HINDUISM : SOME ASPECTS OF HINDU TEMPIES IN KUALA LUMPUR

Oleh

GANESH A/L SANGARAN NO . MATRIK 041456

UniversityLATIHAN IU1IAH of Malaya BAGI MEMENUHI SEBAHAGIAN DARIPADA SYARAT- SYARAT UNTUK IJAZAH SARJANA MUDA SASTERA JABATAN ANTROPOLOGI DAN SOSIOLOGI UNIVERSITI MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR SESSI 1984/85 AUM

Sri Ganeshaya Namaha

Dedicated to:

My Parents, My Brothers , My Late Sister (who did not live long ' enough to enjoy life) , and es pecially t o •• • Latha

..Purity , patience and perserverance are the three essentials to success, and above all , Love".

University of- Swami Malaya Vivekananda ii

ACKJ'\OWIEDGEMF;NT

On the successful completion of this graduation exercise, it is only appropriate that I extend my sincere thanks and gratit ude to the following people who have made it possible:

Dr. Raymond Lee , my Supervisor, f or his invaluable help, advice and guidance.

Dr. S. M. Ponniah, The President of the Malays ia Hindu Sangam , who gave permission to use the Sanga~ ' s Census on Hi ndu Templ e s .

Mr . Thiruvasagam , the Secretary of the Saiva Siddhanta

Mandran , who allowed me to join a religious class on Hinduism .

Mr . So~ askanda Moorthy, Hon. Secret ary of ....e l an~or/Wi layah

Persekutuan Ceylon Saivite s Association and ~1r . Vinaya Lau , for t heir useful suggestions regarding this research.

The National Hindu Youth Council, The Manageme nt Committees and priests of the various temples in Kuala Lumpur , all my friends for their moral support and last but not least, Mrs . Nesh f or her constant encouragementUniversity and inspiration of. Malaya

Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi Universiti Malaya Kuala Lumpur 18th January 1985 iii

SINOPSIS_

Dalarn konteks Malaysia, sebuah kuil Hindu wuj ud s ebagai sebuah tempat yang menarik. Suatu kajian ke atas kuil- kuil Hindu

akan menolong menjelaskan kebudayaan serta kepercayaan keagam aan or ang­ orang India di Malaysia. Kajian ini mengandungi lima bab.

Bab Satu mengandungi penerangan tentang pengenalan , t ujuan dan skop kajian ini. Berbagai methodologi yang digunakan dan m as a la~ ­ masalah yang dihadapi semasa kajian ini juga disentuh d i dalam bab ini.

Bab Kedua berkaitan dengan permulaan perkembangan kuil- kuil

Hindu di Kuala Lumpur. Oefinasi yang ringkas t entang agama Hi ndu di­ berikan dan penekanan a::ialah pada pembahagi an kuil- kuil ini berdasarkan beberapa kriteria yang tertentu.

Di dalam Bab Ke tiga , upcara- upacara dan perayaan- perayaan di dalam kuil- kuil ini dijelaskan. Suatu penerangan yang menyel uruh diberikan tentang perkara- perkara yang berkaitan dengan berbagai- bagai

perayaan yang dirayakan oleh kuil- kuil . Peranan padri-padri s erta Dewa­ Dewa yang utamaUniversity diberi perhatian. of Malaya Bab Keempat adalah mengenai aspek- aspek sosial dan politik

kuil- kuil Hindu ini. Ini adalah penting ker ana kuil-kuil mempunyai

tanggungjawab yang besar terhadap masyarakat, terutama sekal i dalam

pengekalan warisan budaya. Peranan beberapa organisasi yang berkaitan

dengan kuil- kuil juga diberi tunpuan. iv

Di dalam Bab Kelima, pene kana.Q ut ama di berikan kepada mas al a h-masalah yang dinadapi oleh kuil- kuil . Beberapa cadangan juga di berikan untuk mengat asinya. Ini adalah untuk menentukan bahawa kuil- kuil Hindu ini t e rus kekal di t e ngah-tengah pembangunan yang pesat di Malays i a .

University of Malaya v

SYNOPSI S

A Hindu temple remains a place of interes t in the Malaysian context. A study on Hi ndu Temples will help t o e xplain the reli gious belief and cul ture of t he Indians in Malaysi a . This r esearch consis ts of five chapt ers.

Chapter I contains inf onnation on i ntroducti on , aims and

scope of this s tudy. Various methods that wer e used and problems

that were f aced d uring t he research are also t ouched in this chapt er.

Chapter II de als with the hi s t or ical development of Hindu

Temples in Kuala Lunpur. A brief definition of Hinduism is given

and emphas i s i s on the c at egor ization of t he ~emples based on specific

criterias .

In Chapter III, rituals and f estivals of the temples are

gi ven due importance . A t hor ough explanati on i s given on matt ers

pert aining to t he various f estivals celebr ated by the temples. The

r ole of temple pries ts and the main deities ar e also highlight ed .

Chapt er IV is about the social and political aspects of t he Hindu templesUniversity. It is important becaus e oftemple Malayas have a l ot of responsibilities t owards t he society especially in s us t aining the

cultural heritage . The role of various organisation is also focus sed

in relation to the temples.

In Chapter v, the main emphasis is on t he pr oblems that

are being f aced by the temples . Some sugge s t i ve r emarks had been vi

given on how to overcOMe t hem . This is to ensure thctt the Hindu

Temples still exis t in t he midst of rapid developnent in Malaysia .

University of Malaya vii

LIST OF TAfUES

Page

2. 1 Basic Structure of a Temple 10

2. 2 Navakki r ar\kal 1 1

2. 3 Est ablishment of Hi ndu Temples according to main deities 17

2. 4 Cat egorizat i on of Hi ndu Temples according t o Registrati on, Management , Land Owner shi p , Building Struct ure and Consecr a t i on Ceremony 22

3. 1 Different Types of Deepam 40

3. 2 Object s used during puja 41

University of Malaya viii

LIST OF PHOTOGRAP HS

Nunber Page

1 Navakki rakai1kal 12

2 Vahanam and Pali - peetam 12

3 Cat egory A Templ e 23

4 Cat egor y B Temple 2 3

5 Cat egory C Temple 24

6 Designs on t he Ce i l ing 24

7 Rajagopuram 32

8 Rajagopuram 32

9 Consecration Ceremony 34

10 Influence of Chinese Religion 34 _, 11 Ganes ha 45

I 12 Siva 45

13 Mariamman 51

14 Murugan 51

15 Kaliarrunan 52

16 Muneswarar 52 17 AratiUniversity .. of Malaya53 18 Thaip\isam 53

19 Thai pus am 63

20 Re ligi ous Acti vit i e s 71

21 Cultural Activities 71

22 Social As pect 86

23 Soci al As pect 86 i x

CO NTENTS_ _

Page

Dedication i

Acknowledgement ii

Sinopsis iii Synopsis •• .. v List of Tables .. vii

Lis t of Photographs viii

CHAPTER

I INTRODUCTION l 1. 1 Aims Of Research 1 1. 2 Methods Used .. 3 1 . 3 Problems faced during Research 5

II HI STORICAL DEVEI.DPMENT OF HINnu r'El'1 PU:S IN KUALA LLMPUR 7 2 . 1 Hinduism 7 2 . 2 Wh at is a Temple 9 2 . 3 The Early Temples 13 2. 4 Categorization of Temples 19 2. 4 . 1 Registration 20 2. 4. 3 Size .. 25 University2 . 5 Develoµnent of Hindu Temples of Malaya.. 26 2 . 5. 1 Land Ownership 26 2 . 5 . 2 Constructi on and Labour 28 2 . 5. 3 Consecration Ceremony 28 2 . 5. 4 Statuary .. 30 2 . 6 Architecture 31 2 . 7 Financial Aspect 33 x

Page

III RITUALS AND FE~TIVALS OF HI~DU TEMPLES 35 3. 1 Rituals of a Temple 35 3. 1 . 1 abisekam. 36 3. 1. 2 Puja .. 37 3. 1 . 3 Arccanai 42 3. 2 Temple Priests 43 3. 3 Temple Assistants 47 48 3. 4 The Main Deities_ , 3. 4. l Lord Ganesha 48 3. 4 . 2 Lord Murugan 49 3. 4. 3 Mariamman 50 I 3. 4 . 4 Lord Siva 54 3. 5 Conduct in Temple 54 3. 6 Upayams 55 3. 7 Sacred Symbols in Hindu Temples 56 3. 8 Role of Mediuns 59 3. 9 Animal Sacrifice 60 3. 10 Festivals 61 3. 10. 1 Thaipusam 61 3. 10. 2 Navarathiri 62 3. 10. 3 Vinayagar Chatur thi 64 3. 10. 4 Panguni Uthiram 65 3. 10 . 5 Deepavali 65

IV SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF HINDU TEMPIES 66 4. 1 Social Significance of Hindu Temples 66 University4. 2 Social Activities and Se ofrvice s Malaya67 4 . 3 Caste Influence 73 4. 4 Youth Committees 74 4. 5 Role of Malaysia Hindu Sangan 75 4. 6 Saiva Siddhanta Mandr am 78 xi

Page

4 . 7 Role of Hindu Youth Organisation 80 4. 8 Political Significance of Temples 82 4 . 9 central Ad.ministr ation of Temples 83 4. 10 Role of M. I .C. in the Temples 84

v CONCLUSION .. 87 5 . 1 Problems faced by the Hindu Temples 87 5. 2 Suggest ions to overcome the Problems 94 5. 3 Conclusion 97

BIBLIOGRAPHY 98

University of Malaya 1

1 . 1 Aims of Re s earch

It has be en obs er ve~ t h~t tre~ ~re rarely any hoovs wr i t ten a bo u t Hi ndu religion o r liindui:;;n; in ?·.alD~ tiiO . :xccrt f o r some disserta t ions by l ocnl ac8demicinna , studies in this f i e ld is quit e new. Ther e ~re s t i l l many esJects of Hinduism in

Malaysia t ha t need t o be s tudied , wh i ch c an also b0 used by the non- Hindus t o know mo r e a bou t t h e Hindu her itage.

The following a c ad e~ ic exercis e i s pre sented in on a ttenp t t o fill up , :i.n p~rt a t lP st , the V<'C\tUC of infor1 "I ti on regardine the Hind u r e ligion i n Naleysir . ~his is bec ause an e x haustive ana lysis o f t his topic c annot be d one in this r ese a rch .

The vacuu m might have be en created due to the existing close inter a ction be tween the I ndiRns i n Ma l aysia wi t h t hei r ance stors in India , frorn wher e t h e y migr Ated du r in~ the Jriti sh colonia lism . Thus a situation arises wher e we c an c lear ly find man y books Universitywritten a n d r esearch done ofon Hin duMalaya r e l ieion which were published in I ndia by Indian writers.

These books f r om Ind i a were us ed b y local wr iter s to e xpla i n the p r a ctice of Hi ndu rel i e; ion i n Malaysia without

t a k i ng into c onsider ation other f acto r s like the s ocial , political

and e conomical env i r onment t hat p r e v a i ls in Malays ia. Therefore 2

more studies was done locally on topics like Indian i rnmi~rati o n ,

poli tical association and kinship r ather t~3n on Hindu reli6ion .

S t udies on Hindu r e liBion locally were ignored becRuse one can

always refer to the books from India to know ahout tljnduiGm .

In social science researc h , religion is prnctically a

very i mportant aspect because the ways of l ife , thou5hts and

behaviour o f man i s greatly influenced or reflected by t he

religion that he believes in. Religion is the only p rovider of

answers to various shortcomings or problems in life t h~t needs to

be looked at from a more supernatural perspective .

In t his a cademic exercise , the author will attempt to

observe an i mportant part of HinduisM , which i s the Hindu temple

from a soc i ologic a l approach . The sight of a hindu temple arouses

interest in t he manner in which it was built , the a rchitectu r a l

designs and the v a rious s culptures o f Hi ndu dejties whic~ ore very

significant to the Hindus o r to any visitors to the temple.

In his c apacity, the author will try to account for t he

historica l development of Hindu temples that e xist in Ku ala Lumpur and eiUniversityve reasons to why t here areof s o Malayamany t emples that a re big as we l l as small. A specia l empha sis will be 5iven on the

ty-pe of management of the temples in relation to its development .

A point of interest that will be to uc~ed is the various

ritua l s and festivals that takes place in the temples , f or it

c an be seen that different temples with different deities give 3

mo r e a l loc a tion t o f estivals which a?"e rela ted t o t he particul ar deities.

Lastly a look a t the soc i a l and po litic ~ l aspects of t he Hindu templ es wil l help to t h row s o me lig h t on t he func tions of templ e s to t he s ociety a s a whole . This is qui te i mpo rtant becaus e the g rowing pr e s sure from t he Government ha d made the

Hi ndu t emple s mo r e "p oliticized" i n t he sense that pol i t i cia ns a r e a l so pl aying t he i r rol es in helping to s a f eguar d the int e rest of the temples .

Lastl y this a cademi c e xercis e is hoped to g ive a bett er pi c t u r e o f the e xis t ence and p robl ems t hat a r e beinc f a c ed by t he Hi ndu templ e s i n ma i n t aining t he t emp l e s and c r e~te an a wa reness s o t hat a l l t he se shortcomine s could he s olved in the near f u t u re .

1. 2 Me t ho ds Used

Thi s a c ademic e xercise is ba sed on fieldwork t hat wa s c a r ried from March until Aug ust 1984. The main methods us e d to conduct t he s t ud y were p art i c i pant obse rva t i o n and ke y- i nformant interv iews . UniversityQue s t i onnaires we re not utofi lize Malayad for t his pur pose . Ins tead , infor mal interviews were c a r r i e d out .

This s t udy wa s d one i n va r i o us l o c Rtions a r o und Kuala

Lumpur a nd a ttent i o n was focussed on forty temple s out of a possible h und red t e mpl e s va r ying i n size s f rom extremel y l a r e e a nd well- e s t a bl ishe d to medium size d a nd l astl y to road- side 4

shrines which are very small. Locat~on of these temples which are scattered a round places of high Indi3n population ~ were made p ossible from a recent census done by the Malaysia l1indu Jangam.

The temples of study were picked a ccording to its s i zes and place of location. It was also thou5ht to be feasible to pick temples also according to prominen t deitieR. Fieldwork was ~ ar ri e d out during the mornings and evenings. Most of the t e mples which were visited hold special services on Tuesdays and

Fr idays where a lot of devotees from a specific locality gathers.

It was quite appropriate to conduct interviews with t e mpl e pr i ests ;after the morning religious sessions when the priest will have ample time to voice out their viewpoints. The morning r eligious sessions will be conducted between 5. 30 a . m. until 7. 30 a . m. after which the temple is totally deserted.

Fieldwork wns also carried out during the evenings in the temple when the services are more elaborate. This is when one can properly observe all the p roceedings pertaining to the

rituals. The author also pajd regul ar visits to some t emples to consult the Universitytemple management committee of fro ~Malaya whom a lot of information regardin~ historical development , financial position

and other matters rela tinc to it were obtained.

The author had the opportunity to t alk to some of the

prominent figures from Hindu organisations and Mandrams , who are

well- versed in all matters regarding Hinduism as practiced in 5

this country . A lot o f critical and-constructive o~inions were sha r ed with ther.1 c oncernins the position of · 1 ir.du ternrles i.n

Kual a Lump ur.

To make t his stud y c l e a re r , the aut hor was abl e to take

pho tographs o f v a r i ous t emple s , with t hejr deities , d11ring r ituals

and also d u r i ng major c e remonies like c onsecr etion c eremony .

A point to note is t hat mos t o f t he a uthor ' s r equest f o r phot o ­

t aking sessions were willinsly accept e d b y the t e mpl e ma nAceme n t

c omm i t tees .

Informal interviews were done based on a few s i milar

ques tions to get more app ropr iat e answers. The f act t hat most of

t hese inte rviews were c a rri e d out i n Eng l ish ~nd T~mil shows that

t he possibili t y of ~e tti nc more f a vou r abl e a n swers ~ r e much better.

Inter views with " key- i n formants" , who compr ise d elderly

peop l e were conducted to fi nd out more abou t t he his tor ica l a s pects

of some t empl es . Va r i o us s ouveni r p r o g r a mmes , a l mana cs a nd

r elig ious books were g iven to t he a uthor for a be t ter understa ndine

o f t he t empl e s a c tivities . University of Malaya 1. 3 Pr oblems f a ced d u rinG Re s e a r ch

One of t he basic problem f a ced by the aut1'o r during

fieldwork was t he difficul t y in finding t he exa ct loca t i o ns of

secluded t e mpl es. Even ha ving t he cen s us from t he h a l aysi a

Hi n du Saneam did not he l p much beca use i mpo r t a nt roadside shrine s 6

were n o t able to be found .

Some diff iculti e s a l s o a ros e in 3ettirc p r oper

acknowledge able meMbe r s of t he t emple c ommittees to conduct

informal i n t e rviews . These me~bers were onlJ accessible durina

the we ekends or o n Fridays and an effort had to be rn~de to 1cet

them.

The a uthor a l so f a c e d the problem of get tine necative

r esponse from s o me o f t he respo ndent s who we r e interviewed . This

i s beca use any t opic c onc e r nine r elieion is hichly sensitive ~nd

the respondents , especia lly the priest s , are rel uctant to cive

constr uctive comments on t he va rious questions put forward by

t he a uth or.

University of Malaya

' 7

CHAPTER II

HI STORICAL DEV ELOPMENT OF HINDU TEMPLES IN KUALA LUM PUR

2.1 Hinduism

Hinduism is a word derived from the civilization of the Hindus which was situated on the land of the Indus River in

India. Hinduism can be looked at as a family of religions r a ther than as one religion . There a re different sects , mainly Saivism,

Vaishnavism and Saktism, which have their own scriptures , traditions , beliefs and practices. 1

It is also necessary to emphasize what all Hindus ha ve in common : mainly three gre a t beliefs which are belief in rein carnation, law o f Karma which is the master of ever ybody ' s 2 destiny a nd that God is omnip resent and exists in all things .

In relevance to this study , it is of utmost importance to explain what is Saivism because nearly 80% of the Indians in

Malaysia come s under this belief. Saivism is the religion that hol ds ~iva asUniversity the Supreme God. The Saivofitie Malayas believe that the t r iad of Hindu religi on which are Vishnu. . , Brahma and Rudra (another l . Reno u , Louis, The Nature of Hi nduism (1962) p . 112.

2 . R. Anto ine , Religious Hinduis m, A Pr esentation and Appraisal (1964) p . 28. 8 name for ~iva) are three aspects of one God which is Siva. 3

Vaishnavism i s als o a popular r eligion which hails Lord

Vi§hrz.u as the Supreme God . In Kuala Lumpur , Vaishnavites who consist the minority group are usually of North Indian origin , namely Gujeratis, Sindhis and Maharatis. A l arge templ e , Sri

Lak~hmi Narayanan temple in Jalan Ipoh was built by the North

Indian businessmen community and there are also other temples dedicated to Vishnu. . which are Sri Rama a nd Sri Krishna temples.

The Saivite also believes in the three worlds of existence. The First World is the physical universe of gr oss or material substance in which phenomenas are perceived by our five senses. It is al so called Bhuloka , 11 .Bhu" r eferring to 11 bumi 11

(earth) and "loka" i s another wor d for world.

The Second World is the mental or astral world and exists " within" the First World. It i s the subtle place of existence where the soul goes during sleep and when t he physical body dies. I t i s referred to as "Devaloka" and is inhabited by souls, devas o.nd asuras .

TheUniversity Third World is the celestial of orMalaya causal world because it originates and guides everything from here. It is inhabited

3. R. Antoine , Saiva Siddhantam , The Cream of South I ndian Thought (19S~J P • 2. 9

by Mahadevas or Gods and highly evol~ed souls. It is also calle d

"Si val oka".

The individual s oul has to travel through these three worlds wher e it eventually grows and evolves more and more l ike

Siva until it merges with Him . It has also to overcome the three 4 "mal as" or i mp urit ies which are anava , maya and karma.

Anava is the personal ego , maya i s the world or the

"place" where things happen and karma i s the results of our deeds or whatever that happens within maya . These triple bond

can be explained in relation to schooling life. If an a va is the

i gnorance of the pupil, t hen m~ya is the school and karmo is the lessons t a ught in the s chool.

2 . 2 What is a Temple?

A question that is oft e n asked is why should one go to

the templ e when God is omnipresent? It is in the temple that

the t hr ee worlds can communicate most easily and regula rly.

Therefor e the templ e is the agreed upon meeting place of the t hr ee worldsUniversity. 5 of Malaya

4. R. Antoine , ibid. , p . 30. 5 . Re nou , Louis , ibid., p . 82. 10

It is interesting to note tha t the three eter nal

division of Saivism which are pati (God) , pasu (Man) and pa s am

(Universe) finds clear reflection in the bas ic structure of a

Hindu temple. The Murt hi , the vahanam and the pali- peetam,+

which are found in every temple , r epresents these three enti ties .

TAB~ 2 .1 Basic Structure of a Temple

Pa t i o-J-----t--r-rcc God or murthi)

D

Pee tam ~~~--11---+-~-1-~~~~~ () I (pas am, . al t ar Pasu or Universe ) (Vehi cle or Man )

Flag mast Raj apopuram • University of Malaya

J, Eas t (f acing s unrise )

+Vahanam is the vehicle for God in form of animals. Pali-peetam is a black s t ructure that is found beside the vahanam •

• Rajagopuram is the monument- like s tructure i n front of temples , which is quite t a ll like a tower. 12

Photo 1 : Navakkirakar1kal.

University of Malaya

• OTOKIHAJAH •

Photo 2 : Vahanam (right) and Pali-peetam 11

In the Malaysian context , there is much diversity in size and artistic value, ranging f r om wayside shrines with small s t atuettes to great temples with bounda ry walls , enclosed with r ajagopuram, courtyards and s t atuary manifestations of e a ch God ' s nature be fore the entrance. Some of t he major templ e s have statues of two or more guardians of the temple . These guardians are called " thura palagar" and are found in temples like the

Jalan Pasar Vinayapar temple.

A common feature among some of the big temples in Kual a

Lu~pur is the existence of Navakki rakaoka~ or the nine planets which changes the life pattern of the Hindus. It is a must in most of the Mariamman temples and devotees usually pray or take a vow to overcome bad luck or dis asters. Each of the planets can be elaborated accor ding to each day of the week .

I • Table 2 . 2 Navakkiraflkal

Planet Day Planet Stone*

Suri an Sunday 'Sun Ruby Chand ran Monday Moon Pearl Sevai UniversityTuesday Mars of MalayaRed Coral Pu than Wednesday Mercury Emerald guru Thursday Jupiter Topaz Sukran Friday Venus Diamond Sani , Saturday Saturn Blue Sapphire ' Ra hu . )Deepam to )more as Cat ' s eye Kethe )be shown in )shadow Komethagam anti- clock- planets wise di rec- 1 ~ t i on •The stone specifies which one of t he precious stones that is resembled by the nine planets. An English word for ' komethagam ' was not available . 13

2. 3 The Earl y Te mpl e s

In the be ginni ng o f the nineteenth century , Indian i mmi g rants came t o Malaya by t he t housands under the indenture

labour s yste m. These labour ers , who we r e isol ated to the rubber

esta tes had a lso bought with them t heir vill age religious beliefs

to the pla.nta tions .

Sa int Ap par •s• dec laration that places without temples

a r e d e nse forests and his common p r o verb advising pe ople no t to

l i ve i n pla ces wher e there a r e no temples , b r ings forth the

import ance of templ es. Furthermor e , the estate management had

temples built for t he l abo urers so that the y woul d adhere t o the

life t hey e xper ienced i n India. The fac t that the temples we re

partly sponso red by the man a g e ment and that c ompulsor y payment

wa s d edu cted f r om t he labourers ' wages for t e mpl e maintenance ,

attr i buted t o t he p racti ce o f Hi ndu ceremonies as closel y as 6 possible to t he conditions i n I ndia .

Mos t of the t empl es bui l t in t he est ates in the e arl y

s t ages were dedicated to the Sout h Indian vill age deit ies , mainly Munes wara r , MUniversityariamm an and Muni and y . I tof c an tMalayaherefore be inferred that thes e l abou r e r s a l s o wante d the t e mples to give t hem p rot ection

in an isol a ted are a .

•App ar wa s on e of t he f our t e a c hers who p reached t he r eligion to the va rious p arts of South Ind i a in the form o f songs and hymns .

6. Ar asara tnam , Sin nappah , Ind i ans i n Malaysi a and Si ngapore ( 1970) P• 162. 14

Devel opment of temples i n ~he urban areas only t ook n ser i ous step in t he 1910 ' s and 1 920 ' s , mai nly through the effort

by t he mi ddle class Indi ans who were empl oyed in Gove rnment

sectors t o pres erve the Indian t r adit ion .

From t he l a t e 1870 ' s unt i l the be ginning of the 20 th

centur y , temples i n the ur ban a r eas began to be e stabl ished , namely ~ri Mah!lma ria mman t emple in Jala n Banda r , Sr i Thandayuthabani

temple i n Jalan Ipoh and t he SI r i- Kandaswa- my t empl e in J a lan Scott .

Most of t he es t at e temples does not come within the p resent

bounda r y of Federa l Territory, therefore cont r ibuting to t he l a ck

of emphasis on t hem. But so me of t hem, e speci a lly t he Sr i

Ayyanaree s wa r a r temple i n Set apak which i s one of the oldest

templ e i n Kual a Lumpur , was fo r merly s itua t ed i n a planta t ion

estate . In t he proc.e ss of development i n Kuala Lump ur , most of

these estate templ es were de mol i s hed .

I t was also observed that hune s warar , Muni andy

and Ma r iamman temples a r e closely related with the lowe r i ncome

earning working cl ass of South Indian origin . The Che t t iyars , since t he i r miUniversitygr ati on to Mala ys i a , had of t e mpl Malayae s built to preserve t heir religious i nt e rest. Their deity of prefer ence is

Subra hmanya and i s reflect ed by the S' r i Thanda--yuthabani templ e . 7

7. Ar asar atnam , Sinnappa h , i bi d ., p . 167. 15

Their way of administration leadership is determined by the

·number of shops t hat are owned by a specific member of the temple.

The Ceylonese with their preference for Ganesha- ' temp les, had t he i r employment in the Government service in good stead to help t hem to be rel igiously inf luential. The Sri Sidhi Vinayagar temple and some l arge temples in Petaling Jaya were built by the

Ceylonese , who' \ha ve thei r own association, the Selangor Ceylonese

Sa ivite Association situated in the premises of the Sri Kandaswamy templ e i n Jalan Scott .

The North Indians , with their belief in Vaishnavism , had t emples erected i n dedication to Krishna , Rama and Anumar.

With their strong financial position in the business line, the

North Indians were able to build temples a ccording to Hindu Agaaas and ensure the smooth running of the temples. The Lakshmi. Nar ayanan templ e in Jalan lpoh we re built by a North Indian

bus i nessman , Makhanl al together with similar businessmen in

text iles .

Even though there are specific temples built by specific s ub- ethnic groUniversityups , it is interesting toof note Malayathat under the Malays ian context , there is no str ict adhe rence for a devotee to

go to a temple built by his sub- e thnic gr oup. It is comm on to

see Mal aysians of South Indian or igin going to temp les which a r e

owned by the Ce ylonese or the Chettiyars. 16

The author , with the help of a preliminary census of Hindu temples done by the Malaysia Hindu Sangam in ~ay 1984 was able to locate the temples to trace their developments . The census , conducted under a short p eriod , accounted for only 90 temples . The author was able to locate another ten temples in t he course of this study even though it i s roughly estimated that t here are a round 120 temples in Kuala Lumpur.

University of Malaya TABLE 2. 3: Establishment of Hindu Temples According to Main Dei ties

Not Deity• Total 1850- 1900 1901- 50 1951- 60 1961- 70 1971- 84 Accounted

I Siva 9 1 3 1 2 1 1 oevi 35 1 8 6 13 5 2 _, Ganesh. a 13 - 6 3 2 2 - Murugan. 6 2 1 1 1 1 - Muneswarar 21 - 10 6 8 3 - Muniandy. 3 - - - 1 - 2 Vishnu. . 4 - 1 - 1 1 l Not accounted 3 - 1 - - l 1

Total 100 4 30 17 28 14 7

Source: Mal aysia Hindu Sangam

•Murugan also refers to Subr ahmanya. Vi s hnu also refer s to Krishna, Rama and Anumar , Rama and An'Unar University of Malaya 18

It is noticed t hat there are 35 temples which a re dedicated to Devi and 27 temples for Muneswa r a r . This clea r ly shows the persistence of village Go ds f rom South India , whos e people formed the e state plantations. Devi , i n t his aspect, also refers to temples dedicated to Mariamman , Kaliamma.n. , Nage s wa ri, Rajeswari , Parasakti' and Angaleswari.

Between the years 1 901 to 1 950 , there were thirty t empl es buil t at a time when the Indian i mmi grants began to settl e down in Malaysia and wanted their r eligious heritag e to be continued. Another bi g increase in the number of temples were seen from 1 961 t o 1 970 whe r eby 28 temples were establis hed in which t e n· temples were found ed by individuals .

There were more templ es built in places of high Indian p op ula t ion concentr ation compare d with a reas of low Indian popul ation. The Sentul area whic h also includes Jal an Ipoh ha ve t welve temples . De votees in Brickfields and rlungs a r (including

Jal an Pant ai) can attend prayer s in these two areas which have eleven temples each. The Cheras loca l ity come s next with s even temples f o l l owedUniversity by Sungai Be si with sixof temples Malaya and Kampung Pandan (incl uding Jalan Cochra ne) which has f ive templ e s. All

t he se templ es in a spe cific are situated within wa l king dis tance

from one templ e to another. Mo s t of the other t e mples are

scattered a r ound in d i fferent parts o f Kuala Lumpur. 1 9

2 . 4 Categor ization of Te mp l e s

The t a sk o f c a tegorising the h undr ed t e mpl es was a d i fficult one because infor mat i on regarding some temples a re still vague . Neverthe l e ss , an attempt wa s made to dj vide the se temples a c~ o rdi ng t o t ype s of mana gement , r egist r ation , l a nd ownership , bui lding s tructure a nd consecr a tion ceremony .

2 . 4 . 1 Registration

From Tabl e 2 . 4 , it c an be c l early s een tha t there a re

2 7 r e g i s t e red t empl es , 61 unregistered temples a nd 1 2 shrines , e s pecially those loca t ed at roa d - junct ions a nd trees. To s impl i f y e xplanat i on s i n t h i s s t udy , the author had cl assified t hese t h ree t ypes o f temples into Cat e gory A, Ca tegory B a nd Ca t egory C temples r esp e c t ive l y .

Reg i s tered means that the e xis t e n ce of t hese t empl es are c ert i fied lega l a ccor ding to t he l a w by t he Gove r nme n t . Out of t he 27 regist e red temple s , nine temples a re d edi c a ted to De vi and s e ve n to Gan-·e sha . Most o f t hese t empl e s were buil t between 1 900-1950 andUniversity hence was abl e t o r e gis terof quite Malaya easily with the Re g istrar o f So c i e t ies. Af ter the Me rdeka peri od un t i l t he present, strict l a ws were i mposed on the reg istration procedures , hereby contributing to the many t e mples which we re unable to

register t h emse lves . 20

The i mpact created by the South Indian i mm i gr ants is quite evident among the unregistered temples . ~ emples dedicated to t heir preferred deities , which are Devi and huneswarar totals up to 24 and 20 temples respectively. Most of t hese temples can be found in areas of high Indian population , especially in

Sentul , Br ickfields and Bungs ar. Devi temples that comes under t his category are mainly Kaliamman and Ma riamman temples , which has f ound its place among the Indian l abourers in t he Government services.

It was quite difficult for the author to locate the wayside shrines which totalled t welve , mainly because they were situated in pla ces where one least expects the presence of a temple . I nformation regarding these shrines wa s difficult to obtain because there was no key- infor mants t o give briefings on these shrines. These shrines appear to e xrst only temporarily because their upkeep were either neglected or were just left there by the individuals or groups who build them.

2. 4 . 2 ManagementUniversity of Malaya To explain clearly the state of management of t emple s

in Kua.la Lumpur , the author had divided it into four groups which

are proper management , small management , i ndividual management

and also those temples which v e re not ascertained their management

due to l a ck of information(refer to Table 2. 4) . 21

Proper management refers to t he temples which have a efficient committee with allowance for various other sub-committees such as education, sports, cultur al and social comm i t t ees which cater to the needs of the devotees. These temples also have well- established persons as t heir patrons and also a board of trustees who make important decisions pertaining to the continuity of the temple.

This type of management is qui te obvious among the S' ri

Kandaswamy temple , S' ri Maha Mariamman or the ~rI Athlswaran temple in Sentul. These temples are quite old, somewhere a round seventy to a hundred years , but somehow they manage to survive and extend their premis es due to their proper management in the long r un .

Besi des their we ll- organised administration , t hey also employ

Br ahmi n priests or kurukkal , either from India or locally and • conduct elaborate worsh ip in t heir t emples.

Small management boards which run t emples a r e usually

compris ed of ten to fifteen members but l ack the manpower of the proper management temples. The fact that 62 temples come under this c ategor yUniversity shows that these temples ofneed toMalaya have more capable and young blood in t heir committees to ensure t hat the temples

keep on functioning.

22 temples are being managed by individuals. Most of

these temples were built on Government l and and was founded by

the individual himself. Some of t he se temples are also sit uated

beside the house of t he indi vidual concerned . The indi vidual Table 2. 4: Categorization of Hi ndu Temples According to Registration, Management, Land Ownership, Building Structure and Consecration Cer emony

Registr at.ion Management Land Ownership Bui lding Struc ture Consecrathn I ceremot#'/ Regis- Deity To tal Uhre- Proper Small I ndi- Not Govern Not Perina- Semi- Tempo- t e red gis- Shrine Manage Manage vi - Ascer- Own Private ment Ascer - ne nt Perina- rary !lot Conse- J>o t r;r.. -;. tered ment ment dual tained Land Land Land t ained (brick nent (fully Ascer- c r ated Const - A::.~~r - (half plank) tained c r at<:'l t.::..:ied brick pl ank)

Siva 9 3 5 l 2 5 l l 3 1 5 - 4 , 2 3 - 5 4 - oevi 35 9 24 2 2 24 8 l 4 7 24 - 8 21 6 - 17 18 - -· Gaoesha 1 3 7 4 2 3 8 2 - 4 2 7 - 5 5 3 - 6 7 -

Murugll!} 6 2 4 - 2 3 l - 2 - 4 - 3 3 - - 4 2 -

Muneswarar 27 4 20 3 1 19 7 - 2 3 22 - 3 16 8 - 12 15 -

Muniandy 3 - 1 2 - - 2 1 - - 2 1 - 1 2 - - 3 - visbou 4 2 2 - l 2 - l 1 - 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 2 -

Not Accounted 3 - l 2 - 1 1 l - - 3 - -- 3 - - 3 -

Tot al 100 27 61 12 11 62 22 5 16 13 70 1 25 48 27 - 46 54 -

Source: Mal uys ia Hi ndu Sanga'll University of Malaya 23

UI J AW ~I

Photo 3: A Category A Temple Sri' - Raja RajPswari Temple , Ampang

University of Malaya

Photo 4 : A Category B Templ e SriI - Kalianman Temple Sentul Pasar 24

Photo 5 : A Category C Temple I - I I Sri Siva Sakthi Temple Jalan Davidson

University of Malaya

Photo 6 : Designs on the ceiling ~rI Maha Ma riamman Temple 25

usually has the final say in any matt~rs regarding the temple.

Management of five templ es were not a s certained by the author because it was not possible to contact anyone who is responsible to these temples to give information regarding their management. These temples were just left at their respective places without any concern by the people regarding thei r maintena nce and renovations.

2. 4. 3 ~

To categorize the temples according to sizes is a

difficult thing to do because there were no criteria to be followed.

The author was given a classification of the sizes of the temples

as big , moderate and small.

The big temples are also derived at by the area of the l and. The Sri' Athiswaran temple , with its land area of 320 , 000 aquare feet is expected to be the l a rgest temple in Kuala Lumpur

when it will be bui lt in a few years time. Bi g temples also

have extra building premises , like a wedding reception hall , a big kitchen, Universitya dressing room and enough of space Malaya in between to enable people to walk around . The average holding capacity of these

temples are 500 per sons although it may exceed, like the Lak~hmi

Narayanan temple which can hold 1,500 persons.

The moderate temples have an average area between 800

to 2 ,000 square feet , like the Ka!i temple in Sungai Besi which 26

covers l , 200 square feet . These temples do not have a wedding r eception hall because of its size and further more, ceremonial marriages a re not held here. Their average holding capacity is around a hund red persons , like the S' ri- Mun-eswarar temple in Jalan Raja Laut. I t is quite comm on to see pantarams.. or pujaris conducting pujas in these temples.

The sma ll sized temples refers to the shrines which are quite small when compared with the big and moderate sized temples.

These shri nes , like the Sri' - Vinayagar- temple in Br ickfields covers only 90 square fee t and t his area would be more s maller if it is a r oad- junction or a tree shrine . Ho lding capacities for t hese

I shrines is around 10 persons , like the Sivan temple in Jalan

Davidson.

2.5 Devel opment of Hindu Temples

To further analyse the f a ctors contributing to the devel opment of temples in Kual a Lumpur , emphasis should also be placed on land ownership , construction and labour, consecration ceremony and Universitysta tua r y . of Malaya

2 . 5 . l Land Ownership

I n Kuala Lumpur , it was found that sixteen temples are l oca ted in their own l a nd . These are some of the e arly temples , built by businessmen and middle class Indians who was 27

a ble to a cqui re l and at t hat time to e stablish the temples . These temples , without any dis tur bance from the Government aut horiti es , was abl e t o g r ow in size a nd eventually are l a r ge as wha t can be s een toda y .

Ther e are t hir tee n t emple s situate d in land owned by private c onc e r ns . These temples can be destroyed at any moment beca use o f t heir i lle gal e xistence , like the SI a k ti- Vinaya- gar temple i n Br i c kfie lds which is built on a construction company ' s land. Some of t he s e t empl e s are a l s o given permit by the owner or the land is l eased o u t t o the t e mple s .

Temples t hat we re e stabli shed on land belonging to the

Governme n t , per haps c ause s the bigg est problem t hat are being f a ced by t he temples in Kuala Lumpur. The fact that seventy temples were bu i l t on Go ve r n ment land doe s not aug ur well for its continued exi sten ce i n the near future . Most of the temples were on land belonging t o the Railways , Armed Force s , National

Electri c ity Boa r d , Dr a inage and I r rigat ion Department and the

He a lth Mini s try . TheUniversityse temples f ace the g r im ofpr ospect Malaya of being demolished when more are as a re ~xpect e d to be opened to give way for national

development . The se temple s had either to be reloca ted elsewhere

or des troyed altoget her.• The Sr i Ayyanaree s war a r t e mple , situated

*The Tamil Nes an (10 . 5 . 1984) p . l . 28

on land belonging to the Army had been i ssued with demolition notice .

2 . 5 . 2 Cons truction and Labour

Mos t of the Category A temples have a bui lding structure made entirel y out of brick. Temples which are financ ially sound , had made use of their resources to furnish their temples well with til es and other types of floo ring. Building of these 25 temples were given to Chinese contractors who performed the j ob quite well with Indian labourers working as contra ct labour ers.

The Ca tegory B temples tota l ling l~ B have a semi­ permanent building structure which is half brick and half p lank.

Construction of t hese temples were mostly done from the voluntary help of the youths and members of the community. These temples are not well - maintained , mainly because it c a n be destroyed a n ytime because of t heir loca tion on land be longing to t he Governmen t .

The remaining Categ ory B and Category C temples tota lling

27 were b uilt tempor arily which are fully plank. Their size are quite smallUniversity and again voluntary labofour wMalayaas called in to buil d these temp les .

2 . 5 . 3 Consecration Ceremony

Conse cration ceremony on Kumbap i seka m i s a elaborate p rocess of r ituals done by a templ e to sanctify its elf. It is 29

also done to mark t he spot for the devas and invite them to e s t a blish r esidence . It is their presence wh i c h sancitifes the buil ding and makes it b e known a s a temple .

Consecration c eremony also serves as an official opening ceremony of a particular temple. This ceremony is done with the he lp o f Br ahmin Kur ukkals from India and also local kurukka!s · • Only r egi s t e red and well - e stablished t emples could afford to hold such a ceremony because of t he high expenses. Besides a week- long c eremony , the templ~ must also bear othe r expenses l i k e food , p ayment for k u rukkals and other helpers , things used • and other mis cellaneous items.

I t is also a p r actice for temples to conduct the consecr a t ion ce remony in e very t welve years . What the temples

wi th financ ial constr aints does are just re- painting a nd making minor r e novations . Some of t he Category A temples ce l ebrate t hi s ce remony in a g r and manner , like the ones c onducted by the ,_ - , _ - - S r i Ka ndas wamy t emple and the Sr i Thandayuthabani. templ e for a week , with the s ervice o f local and for eign Brahmin kurukka!s · UndUniversityer thi s study , it was f o undof th a tMalaya a t otal of 46 temples had pe rforme d their conse c r ation ceremonies. Mo re than

half o f t his t otal consisted of Categ ory A temples. Most of the

t emples under Ca tegory B wh i ch had their temples c onsecrated

was not able t o g e t enough financ ial s uppo rt to carry out t h is

ceremony aft e r eve r y twelve year s . 30

54 temples , mostly from Category B and C was not a ble to hold a consecration ceremony. Almost twenty temples were built by i ndividuals , who were unable to raise enough money to have the ceremony. Another reason might be the struggle of t hese temples to overcome t he monopoly of Brahmin kurukka~s regarding rituals in the temples. The role of kurukkals can be minimized to a certain extent if consecration ceremonies are not held .

2.5. 4 Statuary

The - statues found inside the Hindu temples are very abstract and are generally black in colour. The se statues are made by qualified sculptors in India out of "karungkal11 , a durable and unbreakable stone . The statues will be placed tightly in its place by a special kind of glue , which will reveal some cracks or loosening after eleven years. That is why it is necessary to have a consecration ceremony to put these s tatues firmly back for another eleven or twelve years.

I - I Besides statues of the main deities like Siva, Gane sha or Murugan , there are also another black stone , called t he pali- peet am and statuesUniversity resembling the vehicles of forMalaya the God , represented by a particular animal , for example a peacock for Muruga~ . The statues on gopurams display a spectacular artesian skills are embroided in attractive colours.

In Kuala Lumpur , most of the statues were ordered specially from India . These statues are purchased directly by 31

t he temples whereas in some other cases , statues are donated by the members of public , out from their private coll ection as a means of repaying a vow t aken .

2 . 6 Architecture

Architecture and matters pert aining to structure of temples are done by the hereditary temple builders , known as " stapathis" from India who are called to design and construct the temples. Most of t he s t apathis from India were engaged in designing the architecture of the Category A temples.

The SriI - Rama- - lingaI I eawarar_ t temple in Jalan t-'.aarof which is under construction , engaged t he services of stapathis from

South India to design the main arch and other small designs for the temple. An informal interview by the author with one of them revealed that they have to under go three years of education in t emple architecture, to obtain a diploma. This occupation was passed on t o hi m by his f ather, who was also a stapathi.

The Category B and Categor y C temples also have the ir own architectureUniversity but due to their financial of Malayadifficultie s , they could not afford to employ stapathis. What they did was to employ local artists to draw most of t he designs according to t he Category A temples. The fact that these temples were made from planks and wood fails to reveal a form of a r chite cture similar to the ones found in Category A temples. I I :~ :~ ¥ ¥ 0 1:1 ..6 5.'

i,..) N

Photo 7: Rajagopuram Photo 8 : Rajagopuram Sri' - Kandaswamy Temple Jalan Scott Sri' - Maha- Mariamman- Temple University of MalayaJalan dond.ar 33

2 . 7 Financial Aspect

Perhaps t he bi ggest pr oblem t hat t he t emples face today i s finance. Individuals who build temples , a re unabl e to maintain the temples and i t could not be surpri s ing t o s e e the t emples left deserted.

Some of t he Category A temples were able to get grants from t he Government to build their temples. The Sr' -i Maha

t - Maria mrnan temple recei ved $200 ,000 whereas t he Sri Par anjothy

Vinayagar t emple in Jalan I poh got $50 ,000 from t he Selangor state . Other than that , the expenses incurred i n building a temple were bor ne by businessmen and members of t he public thr ough donations.

The role playedby non- Hindus to help the upkeeping of the temples , should not be overlooked . The Chinese businessmen had donate d generous ly for the maintenance of va r i ous aspects of the t emples. The Angalaiswari temple i n Brickfields was built nrS by a Chinese on hi w own land as repayment of a vow t aken b y him .

It is now being run by an indi vidual , but it is mainly s ponsor e d by t he Chinese . A common sight is the pr esence of Chi nese joss- s t i cks in t hiUniversitys temple. The Indians do ofnot seMalayaem to mind t his because they do not s ee this aspect as a threa t to t heir wor ship .

Al l the t emples have t o solve t heir financial problems if they are to continue. A special donation box or 11 undial 11 is • pla ced at t he e ntrance of e very temple, f or the publ ic t o donate for the maintenance of t he t empl e conce r ne d . 34

FOTOKINA JAN •

Photo 9 : Consecration Ceremony Pouring of the sanctified water to the kalasams at the temple gopurams

University of Malaya

'0TOKtNA JAN. II

Photo 10: Influence of Chl.nese Religion SriI - Angalaiswari Temple Brickfields. Note the Chl.nese joss-sticks in the foreground . 35

CHAPTER III

RITUJ\LS I ND FESTIVALS OF HINDU TEt·.PLES IN KU ALA LUMPUR

3. 1 Rituals of a Temple

Rituals that are performed in a temple consist essentially of an invocation , reception and entertainment of God as a royal guest . They normally consist of invoca tion by which t he omnipresent God is invite d to direct his a ttent ion to t he particula r worship ; offering of a seat, of wa ter , of a bath , a garment, a sacred thread , perfumes , flowers , incense , a lamp , food and homage; and a ci rcumambulation of the image . 1

Gener ally, there a re s e ven times when worship are held : at five , six and nine in the morning , a t noon, and at six, eight 2 and ten in t he evening . Strict adherence to t he s e times depends on the financial position of t he temples . The Mahamariamman temple conducts worship six times a day. Smaller temples nor mally have worship twice a day. In some cases , where financial aid is hard to acquUniversityi re , temples , especially of thos Malayae managed by individuals , conducts worship only once a week whi ch i s usually on Fr idays.

1. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica , Vol . 8 (pg . 901) .

2 . M. Arunachalam, Festiva ls of Tamil Nadu (1980 ) . 36

Rituals that are performed can be clearly divided i nto three parts which are abisekam , puja and arccana i .

3 .1.l Abisekam

Abisekam is the first item of the rituals in a temple .

It is the bathing of t he image of God , which is referred to as

Thir umanjanam or God ' s bath. Before the start of the ritual , temples are washed and cleaned. In most of the temples, t his is done by the priest himself with the volunta ry hel p of youths. In categor y A temples , worker s are given this task . What is done to God during abisekam. r esembles what man does to himself. Just as man t akes his bath and put on new clothes , the s ame is done for the God . Besides water , the image is bathed with milk, fruit , tender coconut water , ghee , honey , t irune eru (holy ash) and rosewater.

The image will then be decor ated , usually a cloth is

used to cover up the deity. This pr ocess is c alled Alankaram in which garlands are put on the dei ty. Neivedhiyam (food ) • wi ll be of fered alongUniversity with Dhupa (incense) ofand DeepaMalaya (light) by the pr iest.

Due to lack of personnel , most temples from Category B

and C do not perform the abis ekam in all its stages . These

*Neivedhiyam is usually rice cooked with brown sugar together with beans. 37

t e mple s have no choice but only t o do one o r t wo main aspects o f t he abi s e kam.

3 . 1 . 2 Pu j a

Puja i s part o f the t e mple worship which i s me aning f ul in a l l i ts aspe cts . Mos t o f the temples in Kuala Lumpur cond uc t their pujas twice a d a y . This d e cision is made by the management

co mmi ttee, t aki ng i nto a ccount the number of pe rson nel a va ila ble.

The author a l s o c ame t o know tha t t he S ri Munes wa r a r temple in

Jala n Che r as c onduct puja s o n Fr ida y evenings only . The remaining

t e mples make it a point to ha ve p u j a s o n e very Tuesdays and

Frida ys o nly.

In mo s t of the temples , it is c ommon t o observe t wo kinds o f p ujas . The fir s t i s the ordinar y one wherea s t he other

one is the s p ecial (vi s asar ) p u j a which is usua lly don e on Friday

even i ng s where a big cro wd i s e xpecte d to come to t he t emple .

Fr iday i s picked as an ausp i cious d a y because all the nine pla nets

which forms t he navakkir akan kal sit in t he best s ituation. Thi s could enable Universityeasier contact with the innerof wMalayao rlds . Whe n t he specia l puja i s c a rri e d out , on e mus t con centr ate

t heir mind on the o b jects o f significance t h at are used. It can

be noticed tha t f lame s or deepa m are use d fre quently. This i s

beca use flames are always visi ble to t he t hre e wo r lds. That i s

why flames ha ve always been the focus o f r itual in the p uja. They are powerful door- opener s to t he inner worlds.

First of a ll , t he Alangara Deepam is shown . The deepam or any ot her objects will be shown thri ce by tbe kurukka~ in the form of t he Tamil word "om" before the deity. * The Ot hai (Single)

Deepam f ollows next. Another deepam i s used to respect t he _, vahanam (vehicle) of the pr incipal deity. In Ganesha temples ,

Mushika or r at is the vahanam. Simba (lion) i s t he vahanam for Devi . Mayil or peacock is atta ched to Murugan. whereas Ri shabawa (cow) i s Siva' ' s ve hicl e .

As anot her mark of respect , the Kumba Deepam i s waved f oll owed by el aborate objects like Kudai (umbrella) , Alavadham

(leaf) , Visir i (fan) , Venjamaram (broom) , kodi (flag) , kannadi

(mirror) and Kar pur a Deepam. Al l these a ctions a re the same as t hat which was done to the kings of India . In a way , God is t reated as a king.

Rec i tal of t he mantras in Sanskrit is done by the kurukkal whi ch am ounts up to 108 verses. Different mantr as are us ed f or dif f er ent deities and the mantra s is another way of r espe cting t hUniversitye deitie s and pr a isi ng their of g rMalayae atness. The recital is usual l y a ccompanied toget her with the throwing of flowers a nd a t ype of gr ass ca l led " argan" .

*The objects are shown i n a cl ockwise di r e ction . 39

In t he c a s e of Mi ria mman , Ku nkumarn , which is a r e d powder p ut on t he forehead f o r married l a dies , i s use d for thr owing when t he r ecit al i s being d one . A proce d u r e named as 11 panchal iti11 is done whereby a Kar pura De e pam is waved a gai n . Thi s d e epam has either f i ve or seven s teps , indi ca ting t hat man must eo up step by step in order to a chieve s a lvat i on. I n other words , when the c amphor burns on the s e vent h step , it turns to s moke and goes up which reflects our intenti ons t o get sal va tion .

Vers e s o f the va rious ved as a re recite d a s a mark of satisfac tion t o God . In this ma tter, verse s from the Rig Ve da ,

Ajurva Veda , Sama Veda and Atharvene Veda are pi c ke d . The kur ukkal will t hen indica te t hat the hol y s ongs to be s un~ which a re c a l l e d "Thir umurai " or Pancapuranam (5 t ype s) . The s ongs that a r e d evoted to t he God c ompr i s e Theva r am , Thiruvasa gam, Thiru vasapar ,

Thirupaland u , Thi rupurana m and finall y a spe cial s ong.

The Kar pur a Deep am i s s ho\'m a gain , an action r eferr ed to a s 11 a rati" and the deepam i s sent a r ound the t e mpl e to be g r a ce d by ever y body. When t he dee p am comes to a person , he will cla sp h i s ba nUniversityds a nd p ut hi s pal ms j ust of abov e Malayathe f lame and b r ing the hands bac k to h i s f a ce . Pr a sadam is dis t r ibut e d which i nclude s vibhu t i (hol y ash ) , thi r t ham (holy wa t e r and mi lk) , santhanam

( s a nd a l paste ) , kunkumam a nd flowers .

During the ordinary p u jas , t he abo ve p roced ures a re simp l i f i e d . Only the Othai Deepam and Kar pur a Deepam are use d 40

Table 3. 1 Different Types of Deepam

~~-:=;-~~%:::- ~ ...... - - . -

Deepam (Flame)

Adukku or ttlangara Par usa muruka Deepam Deepam

/ University/ of Malaya

Naga Deepam Nadcha tir Deepam Er a tha Deepam 4).

Table 3. 2 Ob jects used dur ing puja

' I . I I- ·

j

Kumba Deepam Yelli..unuka Kar p ura Ot hai Deepam Deepam

·! i Kudai Alavadham Ko di , Kannadi University of Malaya

Visiri 42

fol l owed by the recita l of 108 ve r se~ of mantras. Finally the

Karpu r a De epam o r Ot hai Deepam is shown t o be graced by ever ybody pres e n t in t he t emple and pr"asadam is off ered.

3 . 1 . 3 Arccanai

If a devotee wishes to r ece i ve the deity ' s blessing for something special t hat i s happe ni ng in the ir lives , they may r e ques t an ar c a~ai , i l for the c o c onut a r ccanai and 50 cents f or the f r uit arcca na i .

Arcca nai is d one after t he puja i s o ver. A pers on had t o tell his name , with which the kurukkal i n tones be for e the

Deity along with Sa ns k riti c vers e s . It is also i mportant t o ment ion o ne's birthsta r and zodia c s i gn.

The c on t e nts o f a c o conut a rcca~ ai usually consist of half a coconut , two lea ves , betel n uts , t wo bananas , vibhuti a nd flower s .

The lea ves sig nifies our two t ype s of body which a re the me nta l and p hysica l body. The leaves are given s o t hat the dev otee wouldUniversity ha ve a hea lthy body with oofut an yMalaya s ickne ss. The betels a re s peci ficall y f or we a l t h whereas the two bananas r e f l ect the g o od and the bad deeds t hat man undergoe s . The co c onut r e s e mbles a human ' s head and a mong others , i t stands for intellige nce , clear t h i nking and sympa t h y . 3. 2 Temple Priests

Priests who conduct worship in temples in Kuala Lumpur can be divided into three distinct g roups according to their knowledge of the religion and social backgr ound. The y are the kurukkal B r~mins , Pantar.. ams and puj aris •

The kurukkal Brahmins are priests who have undergone religious training in India and are well- versed with Sanskritic mantras . 3 Even t hough some of these kurukkals are from India, but this g roup consist of a low number because of difficulties in acquiring the services of other local Brahmins . Most of the younger Brahmins opt to work in the government or pr ivate sectors where they can earn more . These people adhere strictly to vegetarian food . The training that the kurukkals undergo t akes a few years. The kurukkal in the Jal an Pasar Vina yagar temple underwent the priesthood course in Tanjore , India which l asted seven years before he was claimed a s a full- fledged kurukka~ . ().... Most of the kurukkals in Kuala Lumpur wear a threa~ or "punal" iiihich is s wung over the shoulders. These threads are said to beUniversity constrained with certain of g rades Malaya of achievement by the kurukkal. Three threads indica te that he is a ba chelor.

Six threads shows that the kurukkal has married and nine threads •

3. Dubois , Abbe J. A., Hindu Manners , Customs a nd Ceremonies (1968) p . 376 . 44 marks his first child . When the kurukkal. wears twelve threads , he is known as Gur upat ham who has rights to do any type of pujas.

In most of the Ca tegory A temples , the kurukka ~ s play the main

r ole in conducting t he various pu j as and r el igious functions.

The pantara ms a r e non- Brahmi n priests who are also well- •. versed in Sanskritic \mantras Unfortunately due t o t he presence

of the kurukkals who are traditionally inclined to pr iest hood, these pantar.. ams serve t he purpos e as assis t ants to the kurukkals for any religious undertakings in a Category A temple.

The l a ck of kurukkals has paved t he way f or these pantar.. ams to t ake over as the main priests .in Category B temples • Some of them are even s ent to India to learn more about Sanskr itic

mantras i n a bid to get more non- Br ahmins to be interested in pries t hood .

The thir d category of priests in the temples a r e called

pujar is. In the situation that arjse in Kuala Lumpur , these

pujaris consists of low caste members who performs pujas in s o ~o

o1f the Category B and Category C temples. Thes e pujaris a l so .1 happens to beUniversity the individual owners of ofa specific Malaya temple which they themselves founded and built. In a templ e i n Jalan Pantai ,

a fifteen year old son of the owner performs the puja which he

learned from his father, who lacks the fundamental knowledge of

religion. oil> V1

. ~ a0 Cl !! i "> ~ i i 1.1•.r.il"R:r I I

I Photo 11: Ganesha-· Photo 1 2 : Sj.va, in the fonn of Natar aja, University of Malayathe Cosmic Dancer 46

These three categories of 'priests live i n different

settings altogether. The kurukka~s , by virtue of being employed

in Category A temples are given a room to stay with his family

so that any prior consultation regarding r eligious matters can be channelled to him promptly. Some kurukkal.s, for example, from t he Court Hill Ganesar- ' temple , stay in a house nea r the

temple . The kurukkals find their jobs well playing whereby • some can even afford to maintain a car. •

Total income t hat a kurukkal get varies a ccording to

the Hindu calendar months . They are paid a monthly salary

between S200- S300. Beside s this , in cases where the arcc a~ai

comes under the s~pervision of the kurukkal , he earns much more • • Some kurukkals are allowed to e arn extra money outside their

daily duties in the temple. Atte nding and officia ting in functions like cremat ion , birth of a child or marriage proves to be

lucrative enough for the m. The pantarams.. and pujaris e a r n less than the kurukkal because it is difficult to compete with the kurukkals who are well- versed inUniversity religious matters. These of group Malaya of priests manage to survive by being government servants , which gives them more

time to concentrate as part- time priests. This should not

necessa rily be true because some pujaris perform their duties

str ictly on a voluntary basis , and also according to them , to

s erve God .

•The author came across 3 kurukkals who owns a car and also properties in India. 3. 3 Temple .t\Ssistants

The temple assistants comprise drumme rs (me lavattiyam) , clarinet musicians (natasva ram), c~uvar and sweepers as well as genera l workers. They are employed mainly by well- established templ es in some Category A who can afford to pay t hem for their services. Some temples , like Sri' - Kandaswa-my temple is financially s ound enough to engage the services of a gardener to beautify the outer surroundings of the temple .

Most of these assistants are of the lower income ea r ning gr oup and to make ends meet , they have to look for part t ime assignment s e lsewhere. There are no such assistants employed by the Category Band Category C t emples and just like the priests , t he s e a ssistants (namely drummer s and musi cians) are ca lled by the se t emples t o render their services in someimportant festivals or weddi ngs. The se assistants are also allowed to perform in other temples as long as it does not clash with t heir daily chor es.

I t was clearl y visible t hat the profe ssion of being drumme r s and Universitymusic ians was a hereditary of occupation Malaya. The drummer i n S' r i- Kandaswamy- temple happens to be t he third generation that wo r ks in the t e mple . The sons of t hese musicians are encouraged to take over their parents profession at an early age and it is obvious to see these youngsters more inclined to their traditions.

Another distinct i ve group of temple assistants that 48

the author came a cross a re the "voltlnt ar y assist ants . This group consists of youths from the same locality or children of t he t emple committee members. Thi s group can be s een g i ving help doing t he va rious chores whenever fe s tivals or wedd ings are celebrated in the temples.

3. 4 The Main Deities

It is very common to see t hat in most of the temp l es in Kuala Lumpur , there will be a major deity wi th t wo a ccompanying deities. The Vinayagar temple in Jalan Pasar has Lord Ganesha as the main dei ty with Lord Mu r uga and Ambal* a s the a ccompanying deities. In almos t all t he temples , it i s a must to ha ve Lord _, Ganesha.

_, 3. 4. 1 Lord Ganesha

.;_ I Gane sha i s a word derived f rom the Sanskr i t roots

"Gana", meaning "the hosts , multitudes or troupe s of i nferior deit ies , especiall y the retinue of Lord S' iva under the rule of _, Ganesha , and University"Isha" , me aning "ruler , lordof, sMalayaupreme God or s overeign".

As Ganapati , Lord Ganesha-' is t he leader of t he Ganas ,

I r uling over t he celestial wo rld. He is the eldest son of Siva and wi t h his elephant head , he is the more easily r ecognized divinity. Just as an elephant can clea r the j ungle , He i s also

*Ambal is another na me for Devi. believed to clear path towards divinity.

As Vighnesvara, He is Lord of Obstacles , creating difficulties and obstructions if t he time is wrong for us to proceed and removing t hose same obstacles when our success is assured. Because of this wisdom , He is invoked first before beginning anyt hing . 4 He i s a lso called as Vinayaga , Anaimuha or Ainkaran.

In Kuala Lumpur , there are about thir teen temples dedicated to Lord Ganesha.- ' It is also obvious to see a lot of • devotees come to t hese temples to pr ay to Him whenever examinations had to be done .

3. 4 . 2 Lord Murugan • Mur ugan. means beauty and is also worshipped as l

(vel) .

ThisUniversity weapon i s used to dest royof our Malaya ignorance gradually until we are able to s ee Tr ut h . In Kuala Lumpur , t here are about six temples in Murugan ' s honour • •

4 . Mialaret, J e an- Pierre, Hi nduism in Si ngapore (1969) p . 24. 50

3. 4. 3 Mariamman

There are lot of stories t o describe the origin of

Mariamman . One states that she was wife of the T.amil poet

Tiruvall uvar. When she got s mall- pox, she went to houses , beggi.nq for food and fanning herself with margosa lea ves. When she recover ed , the people worshipped her as t he goddess of small- pox, and hung up margosa leaves over their dpors to keep the small- pox a way. 5

I I In the r ole of Sakti, the consort of Siva, she hasitwo personal i t ies , one tha t is gentle and the other fe r ocious. She

I as s ume s a fea r some character when Siva s ends her to punish certain demons. In this mood , she appe ars as Dur ga or l-Iaha Kali and has ten arms with ten destr uct i ve weapons. I f she is yellow skinned , she r ides a tiger. If she is black- skinned , she had a lolling 6 tongue dripping blood , wi t h garlands of skulls a nd snakes.

From a village goddess , she has grown in prominence and it i s not surprising to see temples buil t t o rememb er her.

There a re 35 temples dedicated to her in Kual a Lumpur. University of Malaya 5 . Whitehe ad , Hen r y , Village Gods to South India (1976> p . 112.

6. Mi al ar e t, J e an Per ie , ibid. 51

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University of Malaya

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University of Malaya

lfl r-f .B .c0 n. Ul . w ~ . - - y . a 0.. 0 0 "i,. ,."i ~ i ?- I fc'. · I

Photo 17: Arati - climax of Photo 16: Thaipusam : chari0t rrocession the puja University of Malaya 3. 4. 4 Lord Siva'

Lo rd Siva' is the creator of the Univer se and also reflected as Parasivam or Satchi danQnda or the Supreme Be ing.

He ass umes the role of destroyer but he annihilates in order t o reconstr uct .

Siva' is represented on the altar s by the lingam or phallic symbol , signifying the role of reproduction in his char a cter and he is worshipped universally in this forr.1 . There are nine temples named after Him .

3.5 Conduct in Temple

The ringing of bells in the temple serves as an informa tion, telling the people that somet hing good is going to happen. A devotee , before he goes to a temple , . must take a bat h .

At the entr ance of the temple , he should clasp his hand i n prayer to the r aja gopur a . Once he enters , he should put his footwea r aside and wash his feet . He should pr ay to Lord Ganesha- ' before he praysUniversity to Amhal and Muruga~ . of Malaya If a pu ja is in prog r ess , the devotee should part icipate in it. In Kual a Lumpur temples , it i s usual to see men on the right side and the women on t he left side of the altar whenever any religious function t akes place. At the end of the puja, he should gra ce the Kar pma Deepam that is passed a round , take the 55

pr asadham that includes vibhuti , holy water and sandalwood paste .

If he so desires , he can ask the priest for an arccanai .

He should not forget to perform the "pradaksbina" , a

pr ocess whereby a devotee walks around t he temple or the main

de ity three times in a clock-wise direction . Then for a minute or more, he should s it down solemnly in prayer, f a cing the east .

He can , if he had t aken a vow , present a garland of flowers,

bur n camphor , offer fruits or break coconuts.

3. 6 Upayams

Upayams are taken as a vow by one or more person or a

part icular gr oup to meet the expenses of a religious event in a

t empl e . The person who takes up the upayam are called upayakararkal.

Taking up of upayams helps to ease the f i nancial burden of the

temples . When the calendar yea r for a specific temple is dra wn

up , t here wi ll be an allocation to specify persons or gr oups who had voluntee red t o t a ke a particular religious event. In Maha Ma r i amman teUniversitymple , due to t he spec i a l organisationalof Malaya set- up , one can see t hat upayams are taken by tradesme n like taxi drivers upayam or Milk Vendors upaJam.

I f a f estival is elabor ate like Navarathiri which t akes

9 days , e a ch day is shared by differen t pa rties. In some temples , i t i s fixed t hat a person or group take up a specific festival annual ly. 56

The upayakararkal had to buy the items that will be

used in the temple durine the festival , mainly milk , beans , ghee , hol y water , f l owe r s , fruits , rice, sugar, bananas, coconuts and other misce l lane ous items. In r ~ turn they will get a special arccanai or abisekam .

These upayams had also indirectly been associated with caste groups . A particular group who performs a upnyam in Maha

Mariamman temple is directed to his caste members only. The lack of knowledge regarding this matter makes people from other castes al so to join i n the celebrations pertainin0 to the upayam .

3. 7 Sacred Sym bols in Hindu temples

There are various sacred symbol~ found in temples that e veryone should know about . This will help them to have a better unde r s t anding about the significance of these objects and their r el a tions to the temple .

A f ew i mportant symbols Dre drawn below, together with a explanation of each of it to verify their import~nce . University of Malaya Pranava Aum The Pranava Aum denotes Nada , the Primal

sound or ~oundless Sound from which creation issues forth. The abbreviated Pranuva symbol en.. is always placed on the top of written p:bes in rememberance of Him . 57

Tripundra and ~ottu

The tripundra is the thr ee 5tr ipes of vibhuti across the brow. Vibhuti conPotes purity and the three lines signify the burning a way of the triple bonda•e of

anava , karma and ~aya . The pottu stimul?tes one ' s di~crimination and spiritual insight .

Siva Lingam

This stone pillar of i~definite mol d is I the most ancient symbol of God diva . I The Ling am i tsE"lf is .Siva ·is unmani fest Reality.

Swastika

This is the symbol of auspiciousness and good fortune . 'rhe word me ans " l t is well" .

Shadkonam

UniversityThis six-pointed of star Malaya is formed by two inter-locking triangles ; the upper one I stands for Siva and fire while the lower one represents Sakti a n d wa ter. Their union gives birth to Muruga . Kalas a

Lord Ga~ e sha can be represented by a kalasa, a hushed coconut on a pot , circled by five mango leaves. The

breaking of J coconut be. fore 1iis shrine

represents the sh~ttering of the human ego.

Kuthuvillaku

The standing oil lamp , or kuthuvillaku , burning in the temple or home , keeps the inner atmosphere pure and serene . The lighting up of a ' Kuthuvillaku ' is common before opening any ceremony held outside the temple.

Homa The homa or fire pit i s the symbol of existing Vedic r ites. It is through the element of fire that we make our special offerings to God and it is before the Universityhoma fire thatof marriages Malaya are solemnized.

Bilva

The Bilva or bael ' s tree ' s fruit , flowers I and leaves nre all sacred to 3iva. Planting bilva trees around a temple is highly meritorious and sanctifying. 59

Vel

The Vel , Lord huruga ' s lance , is wide , long and sharp , signifyine incisive

discrimination and spiritual knowled~e which must be broa d, deep and penetrating.

Trisula

I Trisula , Lord Siva ' s trident , is the royal sceptre of the saivadharma . It

stands f or Desire , Action and ~ isdo m .

3.8 Role of hediums

It was observed that the role of mediums in the temples had been drastically minimized and in some temples it does not exist. Category A temples , especially, denied engaging the services of me diums in any consultations mainly becaµs e they follow Sanskritic practices and do not want their reputation tarnished.

It isUniversity common to see mediums ofor " samiyadis" Malaya in t emples dedicated to village Gods like Muneswarar , Muniandy. or Kaliamman but the author was only able to trace their existence in the

Maha Ka!ianunan temple Jalan Raja Muda and Anwalaiswarj temple in Jalan Ann Seng. 61

elders. Efforts had been made by the well-established temples and various organisations to make the people realize that annual sacrifice is a gainst ahimsa , especia lly when i t is p erformed in the temple itself.

The p ractice of animal sacrifice were obse rved in at lea st three t emples: Jalan Raja t•1uda , Jalan Ann Seng and

Ka~iamman temple in Jala n Che ras and one might see a co-relation of these temples with mediums . Dur ing festivals , especially the

Temple Anniversary, devotees a re a llowed to sacrifice goats o r chick ens to pay penance for t heir God.

,;. 10 Fe s tiva ls

Every temple in Kuala Lumpur bas its calender to inform devotees what are the festiva ls that will be celebrated by the temple for a particular year. It i s o bvious that temples also concentrate lavishly on fes t i vals that comme r ate s their main deities. A brief description is given below about some of the comm on fes t i va ls celebrated in Kua la Lumpur temples.

3. 10 . 1 ThaipusamUniversity of Malaya

One of the mos t popular fes tiva l is Thaipusam , occurr i ne i n the Tamil mont h of Thai , when t h e mo on passes in fro nt of the star, "Pusam " . 'rhis festiva l is also as r ememberance o f Lord

Murugan who vanquished the forces o f e vil and to thank him by means of a vow a nd the off ering o f a s acrifice or c a rrying the 62

kavadi . This is a semi-ci rcular wooden or metal fram e work , with cross- pieces designed to support t he structure on the bearer ' s s houlder. The kavadi bea rers also pierce their cheeks , to ngue ~ 8 and body with skewers.

The S' ri-- Maha Maria- mman temple orga nises t his festival i n Bat u Caves, and it bas become nationwide as well as a tourist attra ction centre . 300 , 000 devotees from Kuala Lumpur , Selangor ,

Neger i Sembilan and Melaka throng the ~atu Caves. gr ounds . /1 chariot procession carrying the i mage of the deity to and from

Batu Caves adds to t he glamour.

The devotee as well •• the kavadi bearers had to ascend

272 steps before stopping in front of Mu rugan shrine to fulfill their vows . It is also a normality to see non- Indians car rying the kavadi. A lot of s talls a re set up to cater for the people.

3 . 10 . 2 Nava rathri

Navar athri (ni ne night s) is a specia l f asting per iod whi ch f alls during the growing period of the moon , of the ' Pura tasi ' month , i . e . Universitythe 1st to t he 10 th day ofof t he MalayaHe w hoon. This fes tival is to redeem a ll life f r om evil and to give purity and goodne ss and is celebr a ted gr andly in Devi temples.

Parvathy , La kshmi and Bar aswathy fuse into one form ca lled Durga and pe rform feats , penance and worship during the nine d3ys. 'l'he tenth day mar ks the vi ctory of good over evil which is known as

8. Ar asaratnam , s., Indian Festiva ls in l•1alaya (1966 ) p . 7. 63

Photo 19: Thaipusam: Kavadi carrier University of Malaya 64

Vijayathasmi .

Each day o f Nava r a t hiri is dedic ated t o one form of

Sa kthi .

1st Day Maheswary ) ) 2nd Day Durga Kaumari ) 3 r d Day Varagi ) 4 t h Day Mahaletchumi ) ) Day N~ishnawi Letchumi 5th ) 6 t h Day Indrani ) 7t h Day Brahmi ) ) 8th Day Narashimi Saraswathy ) 9th Day Samundi ) 10 t h Day Vijayathasmi

A special puja is held in honour of Saraswathy , Goddess of knowledge ,and s c hool s t udents worship books on this day . Inter- sch ool t hir umurai co~p e titions a re held by the Tamil societies

to get the s tude nts from all over Kuala Lumpur to participate.

The author had also i nvolved himself in organising such a function

for Sekolah Ami nuddin Baki in the Jalan Pasar Vinayagar temple .

3 . 10 . 3 Vi naUniversityyakar Chaturthi of Malaya Thi s festival which i s the birth day of Lord Gaoesha- I

fal ls o n t he fourth day a f ter the new moon in the month of Avani .

On t his da y , fas t ing and keepi ng vigil thr oughout the night is

comm on . - t Ganesha temples orpni_!Se t h is fe.sti val in g r and manner

- I in which procession of Ganesha is done a round the surr ounding a reas , • for e xample the Paranjothy Vinayagar temple i n Jalan lpoh c onducts t h e proce ssion around the Sentul area.

3 . 1 0 . 4 Panguni Uthiram

Thi s festi va l occurs on t he full moon day of the Tamil month o f Panguni . In India , it signa ls the coming of summer.

The Th anda yu thaba ni temple i n Jal an Ipoh is the main venue and t h e y celeb r ate it annually with a proc ession to a sacred temple in Maran , Pahang.

The Tamil press also organises a walkat hon from Kuala

Lumpur to Maran , the runners to f i nish on the d ay of the fes t i val in Maran . Jus t as Batu Caves , Maran will be conge s ted with people from a l l wa l ks of life .

3 . 10 . 5 Dee p a va li

Deepa va l i i s t he n ational f e stival for lndians in Mala ysia. UniversityIt o c cur s in the Tami l month of of Malaya Aippasi (October- November) . A c l ash in g i ving the e xact date s existed between

Sri Maha Mariamman and Malaysian Hindu Sangam , which had been solve d i n the intere st of both parties concerned.

Every temples conduc t special pujas on this d ay and d e coration o f oil lamps is quit e comm on since Deepavali happens to be the f e s tival of l ights. 66

CHAPTER I V

SO CI AL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF HI NDU TEMPLES

4. 1 Social Si gni f i c ance o f Hind u Te mples

The Hind u t emple s pl a ys a ve ry bi g r o l e for t h e I nd i a n communit y in Mal aysia. With t he existence o f abou t a h undred t e mples in Kua l a Lumpur i tself , one c annot den y the f a ct t hat t hese pl a c e s o f worshi p ha d inde ed become an int e g ral pa rt i n t h e lives of t h e Mala ysian I ndians .

The e a r ly immi g r ants from Ind ia took t he task of building temples to e nsure the c onti nuity of their c ult ura l heri tag e and t o rel a te t h e ms e l ves t o the beliefs , c us toms and traditions of their motherland. The t e mples , there for e had ser ved its pur p ose in s a feguarding t h e rel i g ious i n terest of the se 1 peop le.

Temp les be c o me t he centre of a c tivit ies whe never t here are fun ctions or celebr ati ons h eld . Tis i s one of the few oppor t unities that I ndi ans take to meet f r i e nds , rela t i ves or make new a cqUniversityuain t ances by g a t h ering inof l a r geMalaya numbers in the t e mple s .

I t s h ould a l s o be not e d t hat the main function of the t e mples i s to p rovide a sacred pla ce for t he m to achieve spi ritual g oa ls

1 . Ar a s a r atnam S ., I ndi ans in Malaysia and Si ngapore (1970) , p . 16 3 .

I 67

i n their respe ctive religious lives.

The temples also function as a setting for Indians to be i dent ified as Hindus by the other religions in Malaysia , namely

I s l am and Christianity. By involving himself in the various act i vities provided by the temple , a Hindu is made to realize and be come more awar e about the social significance of Hindu temples .

I n the wake o f recent issues regarding the demolition of unregistered by the Government , the temples have become more and more s ocially associat ed with the people around them. This might be to enable the temples t o get str ong moral s upport to reverse the decision t o destroy the temples.

4 . 2 Soci al Activities and Se r vices

To r emain as t he cultural centre and as a place for the gather ing of t he Indians , the temples , besides their daily pujas and r eligious fes t i va l s , also embark on organising various events to cate r for t he pe ople . By t aki ng part in activities organised by t he t emples , an individual wil l become more attached to the templ e i n hisUniversity r e a lization of the specific of rolesMalaya of the temples as a social inst itution in helping to create a pr ope r social environment f or t he I ndians t o live in.

Culture and rel igion pl ays an important part in f os t e r ing the cont inue d existe nce of a race . In recent times , whe n emphasis is given on usage of Bahasa Malaysia and English as t he me ans of communication , the temples realize the need t o 68

educa te t he young Indians , espe cial l y t he chil dr en , with basic

eleme nt s of t heir own cultur al her itage . This i s t o ensur e t hat t hese children r emember t heir i nherited ways of lif e when they e ventua l ly face the progressive and t echnologicall y advanced worl d .

Mo st of t he Categor y A temples t hat the author had visit ed organises particular cultur al and reli gious event s under their various sub- committe e s . Classes f or t he t r aditional

I ndian dance , " bhara t a - nattiya m" , a re conduct e d by t r ained dance t e achers . Beside s t hat , the author was infor me d t ha t t he Vinayaga r temple in Jal an Pasar, l ike other Ca tegory A temples , organises music classes for the drums and natasvar am. These clas ses a re eithe r he ld on alternati ve days or twi ce a we ek . Thi s t emple also hol ds a yoga cl ass on every Sundays .

Besides all thes e cla s s es , t emples als o undert ake the t ask of t eaching rel igion to t he young and old a l ike. The sett i ng up of bhaja n recita l and thirumura i (holy song) class es a r e impor t ant tasks taken by the temples which are r eadily a ccepted by the public. It is a common thing t o see t hirumur a i singing c ompetit i on Universitybeing held i n temples. Thofe r e areMalaya also l arge scale events which a re or gani s ed ~y the well e s t a blished t emple s like we ek l ong religious semi nars or confe r ence . The SI r i- Kandaswa- my t emple took t he ini t iat i ve t o hold a conference on Saivism wi th the hel p of leading religious intell ectual s i n t he count r y in

July 1983. 69

Educ ation is a field that is given a lot of emphasis by the temples because of its importance to crea te individuals with social consciousness. The Maha ~ uneswar ai t e mple in Lorong

Raja Muda had sta rted a kindergarten t o e ducate the children from the General Hospita l Government Quarters. Various other temple s also undertake similar a cti vities like ha ving Tamil classe s or tuition classes for students sitting for SRP or SPM examinations .

It should a lso be a lightened tha t in some temples , t e achers

(incl uding g r aduates) render voluntary servi ce to teach the pupils.

The Mariamman temple in Jalan Bandar runs a few Tamil schools in the estates and in the city. One of it , the Appar Tamil Prima r y School in Jalan Batu, clearly shows the influence exerted by this temple in its aim to o pen educational opportunitie s to the public. I t a lso administer a special schol a r ship fund and l oan which are awarded to needy a nd pr omising students. The author also knows of a friend who did her dentistry in India under a loa n from the temple .

Other events rela ting to educa tion are also held occasionally like qui~ contes t , debates and ora tory competitions.

Although theUniversityse competitions are held ofin a sMalayamall scale , i ts importance cannot be overlooked.

Another thing that is being checked by the temples a re the whereabout s of the youths . In order to deter t hem from involving in drug addiction and other anti- social activities , s ports play a big role in keeping t he youths f ully occupied. 70

Sports tha t are organise d by t he sports committees of the temples r anges from tradit ional. s ports l ike "sa du- gudu" (played by two t e am s ) t o mode r n s ports l ike badmint on , football , athle tics and hockey .

Mo s t of the temples are bols t e ring thei r image f i nancially by engaging in economic activities. The Maha Mar iamman temp l e , which was once a shed , was able to expand i t s elf by utilizing its financial r esources properly . At pr es ent , t his temple owns a f ew buildi ngs and al s o engage in business . Te mples t herefore ha ve to f ind means t o be e conomically i nvolved in order 2 to sus t ain t he mselves in the nea r future .

One of the servi ces r e ndered by the t emples that pl ays an i mpor t ant part in t he society is marriage. I n t he hi ndu ' s vi e w, a marriage i s not considere d very success f ul if j t is not conducted in a temple under the Hindu ' s ela bora te ceremonies and rituals which ends with the tying of the s a cred knot or

" t hali" around the neck of the bride by the bridegroom.

Charges that are fixed for the wedding reception and the rental ofUniversity t he hall for t he weddi nofg cere Malayamony va ries from one temple to another . The J al.a n Pasar Vina yagar templ e cha r ges S745 for all expens es i ncluding miscellaneous t hi ngs , musicians and t he service of kurukkal to conduct the we dd i ng. Most of t he

2 . Ste i n , Bust on , "The Economi c Functi on of a Medieva l South Indi an Te mpl e" , Journal of Asian Studies , Vol. 19 (1959/60) p . 167. 71

'OTOk l NA JAH, .

Phot o 20: Religious Activities Singing of Thirunurai and bhajans

University of Malaya

Photo 21 : Cultural Activities Bharata- nattiyam 72

weddings are held in big temples because it has now become a formality for the newly-weds to treat the people present at the marriage to a reception in the premises of the temple itself.

A Category A temple i s usually used because it is able to · accomodate a few hundred people.

A notable feature in the Category A temples in the establishment of a library within the premises. The Maha Mariamman and SriI - Kandaswamy- temples have books r anging from simple general knowledge books to highly treasured books about religion and philosophy. Members of the public are allowed to use the library facilities after per mission from the manage ment of the temple . •

Religious services performed by all the temples , like the daily pujas and s pecial pujas dur ing festivals needs no elaboration. This service also includes horoscope reading (jatakam) when prospective newly- weds seek the help of kurukkals to determine whether they are s uitable for one another.

The author also came to know of a unique service that is being carried out by the SriI - Kandaswamy temple in Jalan Scott and the Sri UniversityMaha Muneswarar temple of of Lorong Malaya Raja Muda . The former provides crematorium services, regardless of race, for the public in the Jalan Loke Yew cemetery while the latter manages a hearse vehicle under its name . This is quite convenient to the

*Infor mation: Mr . Somaskanda Moorthy , Hon . Secret ary of Selangor/ Wilayah Persekutuan Ceylon Saivities Association. 73

publ ic becaus e this temple i s situated j us t beside the Ge neral

Hospit al. Al though the service is not quite -profitable , but these t wo temples still c arry on with t his social service.

4. 3 Cast e Influence

Possibly one of the social problems that remain unsolved unti l t oday is the persistence of caste among the Indian society .

Caste i s a named gr oup of pe rsons characterised by endogamy , heredita r y me mbership and pursuit by t r adition of a par ticular occupat ion . 3

To cle arly point out the pr actice of caste differentiation in t e mples is quite a difficult t ask because it is a sensitive issue . In t he Malaysian context , there are some changes occurring but nevertheless caste consciousness is stil l prevalent in t heir dail y l i ves .

Caste influence is perhaps s trongest in temples managed

by t he Ceylonese or Che~~iyirs . Their temple management committee c ompr i ses members f r om the same caste and e ventually management will be passedUniversity on t o impor tant memb erofs of Malayathat particular caste. This i s because their temples which are now big and well- established temples we r e once founded a~ d built by t heir respe ctive caste gr oups and they want to safeguar d the i mportance o f their caste

3. Be t eil le , A., Caste , Class and Power (1965) p . 46. by handing down the management to their own caste membe rs.

Caste inf luence in other temples are not quite obvious to t r ace but a cert ain aspect of it are being used in getting votes wheneve r elec tions for t he temple management committees a r e held . Elect ion c andidates often use the caste element to swing the members vot e to their favour. This usually leads to unca lled f or brawls .

Anot her aspect of caste pr actice can be felt when upayams are he ld i n temples. Upayams which ar e or ganised ~nd f inanced by caste organisa tions are held i n t e mples t o unite the membe r s of a cer t ain caste . Thi s is t he only oc casion whe r e me mbers of a caste can get to know thei r fellow caste members .

Even at one time , well- established temples in the urban area s refused entr y into the t emple to the "untouchables" caste members in the 1920 ' s . But event ually this ban wa s lifted after the Second World Wa r . 4

4. 4 Youth Committees ItUniversity was not i ced t hat s ome of of the CateMalayagory A temples do not have a youth commi tte e to take over the management once t he s enior members r etir e . Ther e are some cases whe r eby due to negl igence of the previous owners of t he temple , the temple is

4. Arasar a t na m, S., Ibid., p . 168. 75 now taken over by the youths who organise various festivals and activities. The youths i n Jalan Loke Yew manages the Muneswarar temple and celebrates the important festivals whereas the youths in Jalan Cheras had taken over the 1-iuneswarar temple and a-re now using its premises as a tuition class.

A sad case to note is the situation that exist now whereby youths a re only sought after by the management to render voluntary manual service . Whenever an important fes tival approaches , these youths will be seen decorating the outer areas of the temple, going house-to- house for donations and other tasks which needs physical strength. These type of occurrings are quite f amiliar with Category B temples where a lot of Indians live near the temple . Th e Category A temples , with their financial stability, either employs outside workers or use the services of thei r own employed workers.

4.5 Rol e of Malaysia Hindu Sangam

The Mal aysia Hindu Sangam was formed in 1965 mainly to co- ordinate the religious activities of the various temples and

Hindu organisationsUniversity in the country. ofIt also Malaya functions as the national representative bod~ of the Hindu community in Malaysia.

The Sangam therefore represents the Hindus in all matters relating to the Government and to other religions. It also undertakes the responsibility to s a feguard t he religious f r eedom of the Hindus , whether in the form of indi viduals , 76

institutions or temples. In order to make this task easier, the

~ Sangam h as councils set up by its affiliates at district , state

a nd national levels.

The Sangam also works i n close relations with the

various temples to propagate the religion a nd to carry out reforms

that affe cts the Hindus on the whole . A decision was taken quite

some years back by the Sangam to try to p revent certain r eligious

practices from being done during religious functions . Their

appeal to shorten the l engt h of skewers o n a kavadi c a r rier and

the sacrifice of animal s withi n the temple compound was successful

e nough to reduce the number of such religious pr a ctices.

With regard to the shortag e of Brahmin kurukkals in

Malaysia , the Sangam suggested to build a institute for Hindu studies whereby youths can be g roomed into priesthood and be

taught classical music and dances . Although t his plan never became

a reality, the Sangam still assistsin matters regarding s c ulptors

and Brahmin kurukkals . The Sangam gets into a close rapp or t with • Government bodies like the Immigration Department a nd the Foreign

Affairs Ministry to e nable sculptors and priests from India to p erform to theirUniversity hereditary occupati onof durin Malayag special functions

like the building of temples a nd kumbabis hegam .

The Sangam , in realising the importance of t h irumurais

or h oly songs in uplifting the spi ritua l think ing of the Hindus ,

organises this singing competition on a g r a nd basis annually.

The competition , divided i nto age- g roups , is he ld i n stages , 77

starting from district to state level and eventually to the national level. This compe tition is usually -held in the Category

A temples in the urban areas.

The Sangam also sponsors national seminars regarding religious matters that discusses various problems that are being f aced by the Hindus. Besides that , i nternational conferences are al so held with delegates coming from India , Sri Lanka , Singapore ,

Nepal , Indonesia , Mauritius and the United St ates of America.

In spite of their responsibilit ies to the Hindu community, there was a difference in opini on between the SI r -i Maha

Mar iamman Devasthanam in Jalan Bandar and the Sangam r egar ding t he naming of the date for Deepavali . This problem bas been solved some how , but the str a in between the two bodies can sti ll be felt .

The Sangam ' s reputation i s a lso well known and is given due respect for thei r services t o the Malaysian Hindus. This can be seen with t he appointment of the Sangam ' s president ,

Dr. S . M. Ponniah as the Vice- President of the World Hindu Organisation based i n KatmanduUniversity, Nepal. of Malaya Mo s t of the services rendered by the Sangam met with f ailures , mainly be cause of lack of participation from the youths and also the disability of the Sangam to acquire the help of the

Category B and C t emples. This is because the t emples like to remain as individual bodies without much disturbance from other bodies. 78

4. 6 Saiva Siddhanta Nandram

The Saiva Siddhant a Mandr am is pe rhaps the youngest of

Hindu Or gani s a tions in t his country , which is playing a ve r y .active and vital r ole in the promoti on and dis s e mi nat ion of Hinduism , part icular l y among t hose who do not have a basic e duca t ion i n

Tami l l anguage .

The Mandram , which is sit uat ed i n Sangeetha Abivirthi

Sabha of Brickfi e l ds , was f i rst ini t iate d t hrough the e f f orts of

Mr . Thiruvas a gam ( t he pr esent Secretary) who corresponded wi th the Sa iva Siddhant a Church i n Hawa ii. He did an individua l missionary work and whe n 35 Ameri can Hindus came to Ma laysia in

198o , the idea of f orming a Mandr am became a r e a l ity. Yout hs came t ogether and a pro- t erm comm i t tee of six members was e lected in

August 1981 . The Nandr am was officially r egistered in Jul y 1982.

The Mandram is managed by a fifteen member commi t t ee* which are e lected ye a r ly. There a re thr ee sections , which a r e t he Economic Section which deals in financial and f und- r aising matt e rs and compr ises six members . The Council of Te a chers , have five qualUniversityified persons+ t o t e a chof Hinduism Malaya locall y and is e xpect ed to e xpand. The thi rd secti on , the Saivit e Wome n ' s

•The commit t e e consist e venly of employees of Government and pr i vate sector s . +The t ea chers had to pass the San Ma r ga Ma s t e r Cour se on Hi ndui s m. 79

Section wi t h ten members looks into matters that affects the

Hi ndu women. At present ther e a r e 190 members of the t-landram.

Thr ough t he efforts of t he Mandr am, f ifteen centr es were set up i n all parts of Malaysia· to give religious cju i~anc~ to t he people.

Among the various services rendered by the t·,andram to i t s membe rs and t he public is the San Marga Master Cour se and

Hindui s m which is usually c onducted by l earned disciples of

Saivism f r om Hawai i . I t i s conduct e din Engl ish. The author had t he pr ivilege of attendi ng s uch a cour se in July 1984 which was an i ntensive cour se about Hinduism.

The Mand r am also runs other services s uch as the mai ntenance of a religious l i br a r y , counsell ing on religious matters , socia l s ervices in es t ates , t am il classes and theva r an classes once a week , cookery clas ses for women , copper t oolinss depi cting

God and religi ous s ym bols as well a s religi ous books for sale.

A lot of Saivite magazines , periodicals and articles can be rea d wi t hi n the Mandram ' s premi s es . ll poi nt t o not e i s t hat

I mos t of t hes e funct ions are he l d in t he nearby Sri Kandaswamy temple , t o r Universitye flect its cl ose as soci a t ofi on w ithMalaya the temple. Another common sight nowadays in the Ca tegor y A templ es whenever there is a cel e br a t ion , i s the pres ence of t he Mand r am memb ers , sel ling r eligious books t o t he devotees. Bo

4. 7 Role of Hindu Youth Orga nisa tions

The nee ds and wishes of the Hindu youths , be it in t he f ield of religion , economy , agriculture , education , leadership or eve n physical , has to supercede the needs of others. With t his view i n mind , the first Hindu Youth Movement was opened in 1949.

Since its inception , the llindu Youth Organisa tion ha d strive d to be a well established and resp onsible body. In its effor ts to h e lp in the development And solidarity of the society, the Or ganisation had changed image of being urban based into an organisation that also involves itself with the rural society.

The Malaysian Hindu Youth Council (MHYC) which is the parent body of Hindu Youth Organisations ( HYO ) is divided i n to various level which are the state and district levels . At p resent , ther e are 164 organisations including Sabah a nd Sar awak wi th about 46 ,000 members . It also has the l argest membe rship among t he affiliates of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam.

HYO ' s which don ' t have t heir own premises , make use of the f a cilities provided by a nea rby temple to chart out t h eir act i vities. UniversityAt the same time , they alofso functi Malayaon as the Yo uth Commi ttee of the temple , helping out whenever there is a festival or r eligious event h e ld in the temple . The Pasar/Imbi HYO had made use o f the Jalan Pasar Viniyagar temple until t hey would a cqu i re a premise of their own .

Among t he objectives of HYO is to pr omote a nd provide 81

oppo rtunities for t he s tudy and pr a cti ce o f Hind u Religion a nd

Philosoph y . The HYO ' s organise r elig i o us classes , talks a nd p r a yer sessions i n temples f or the p u bl ic. Other a c tivities c arrie d out i nclud e s organising c l a sses in t he s i ngi ng of t hevaram and obs erving most of the Hindu fest iva ls.

The Organisation a l s o promotes goodwil l and under s t andi ng among t he vari ous youths i n t he country . This i s done by organising national conve ntion whi ch involves a l l t he o r ganis a tio ns i n the countr y . The a uth or , in attending t h e 19th national conven t i on of t h e Malays ian Hi ndu Youth Or g a n i s a tion in Penang i n

1983, was abl e to participate i n a lot o f acti vities r anging from relig ious t o c ultu r a l , s o c ial , spo rts a nd lit era ry.

The Organisa tion a lso c a rry out v ari ous k inds o f spo rting activities to keep t h e youths i n a he a l thy sta te o f mind. Cult ura l traditions a nd s ocial acti vities are held t o i n s t il . a wa r eness amo ng t he youths. Lea d e r ship i s also stresse d by havi ng for ums , t r a ining c amps , seminars , and workshops i n order to for g e responsible leaders in a develop i ng s ociety . Me mbe rs are als o give n help i n carrying out economic , busi ne ss a nd a g r i c ultural p roj e cts i n Universityorder to r a i s e t h e livin gof s t and Malayaa r ds o f youths .

De spite all t he commi tme nts under t a ke n by the

Or ganisat ion , a g r i ef co n cern was voiced ou t by its p a tron , Datuk

S . Samy Vellu over t he d isun ity and lack of g uid anc e betwe en

Hindu organisations . The s etting up of co- ordin ating body , which bri ngs t ogethe r v a rious temples author i t i e s , t he Hindu Youth 82

Coun c il and other Hindu organisa tions , was suggested. Among its

o b jectives s hould be to e stablish state councils on Hinduism,

act a s a l iai son body with the Government on matters p ertaining

to the Hindu r eligion and help in the fixing of d a t e s for Hindu

religiou s occasio ns . 5

The chair man o f t his body , was suggested to be selected

p eriodically f r om the mo re established temples . Although t h ese

sugge stion hav en ' t materialised yet , but steps have b e en taken by

t he Or ganisa t i on to be mor e effic ient in its undertakings .

4. 8 Politica l Si gnificance of Te mples

Any r e ligious matters or a ffairs of t he temple should

not be mixe d wit h politics . Fo r a temple to function prop erly

a ccording t o its rol e , t here should be minimum or no interference

from p olitics. A close r look at some of t he temples will clearly

reveal the influe n ce exerted by poli tics on t e mples .

Notabl e pol iticians in the Cabinet had once h ~ ld posts

in manage men t of t e mple s , mainly in the S' r i- Maha Mariamman templ e . ThisUniversity temp l e which i e a very ofi n fluential Malaya institution , can b e t h e be s t pl ace to s t a rt off a c areer in pol itics. Experience

as a commi t t e e member in suet a t emple will k eep him in good

s tea d i n getting s upporters.

5 . The St a r , 22 . 4 . 1 983 , P • 7. 83

The author also came across some o f the committee members

of temples who are holding important posts in Malaysian- Indian

Congress party (M . I . C. ) at branch and state leve ls. This is mainly

because t he temple is t he center of a c tivity in a specified area

and its mana gement committee are well- known to the public in

terms of lea dership and responsibility . With so much assets in

their favour , these people could e asily get support from the

community.

Individuals holding dual positions in temple committees and political parties will eventually confuse t h e ms e l ves with

their roles. Both their roles will i nfluence and be influenced by one another whenever t hey make a decision. So it can be seen that most of the religious decisions are slightly incline d p olitically.

Besides being a place of religious and social importance , temples have indirectly changed to a more political outlook .

Individuals who had built the temple themselves also pursue t heir politic al ambitions as a persona l i nterest . The problem comes when they had achieved t heir p olitica l aim , they neglect the temple which is then Universityleft deserted. of Malaya

4. 9 Central Administration of Temples

Even though the author had a ccounted for a t otal of a hundred temples , it is quite surprising to see all of them coming under the centra l admi nistration of a particular temple . There 84

was a sugge s t i on that t he Sri Mahi M;riamman temple in Jalan

Banda r because of i t s popularity and size, take charge of al) the t emples .

Perhaps one o f the reason why this suggest ion was ·not heeded is that the t emples l ike to remain as isolated organisations.

The y prefer to manage their own affairs for their own locality.

Any di sturbance ca us ed by the parent t emple , i f centr alisation takes pl a ce , will onl y tend t o jeopardize the interes t s and roles of the t emples.

The f a ct t hat t her e is no centr al i sation of administration shows a picture o f t he temple s as unorganised r el igious bodies but it is not in any ways , disorganised . Centr alising all the t emple s is a arduos tas k and it involve s c oopera t ion from al l the temples in or der to a chieve i t .

Furthermor e centr al isation will r e s t rict the a ctivities of t he temples concerne d . The r e will r i s e a situation whereby the temples ha ve t o consult the centr al administr ation first before proceeding to ca r ry out any function.

4 . 10 Role of UniversityM. I . C. i n t he Temples of Malaya

Some of the temple s in Kuala Lumpur are now in a bad state , waiting jus t to be demol ishe d , especial ly the unregistered temples. This is because the Gove rnment has proposed to the for mi ng up of t he Kual a Lumpur Master ¥l an whereby a modern outl ook of i t will be shown . 86

Photo 22 : .:>ecial Aspect Feast in temple during a festival

University of Malaya

Photo 23: Social Aspect Wedding in a temple according to l!indu Agamas 87

COl'.CLUSION

5.1 Problems f a ced b y the Hindu Temples

The author , after doing fieldwork and observing the various temples in Kuala Lumpur for the duration of six mon t hs , was in a better position to cite some of the problems tha t a r e being faced by the Hindu temples in halaysia ge n erally and in

Kuala Lumpur specifically.

Although the existing problems are quite inter- related , that is relig ious , soc ial , cultura l economic and political , it should be overcomed i n the coming years bec ause it po ses a major threat to the future o f the nindu temples . The author in his capacity , have also given some suggestions which may o r may not be followed to solve the problems o f the temp le .

The main p roblem being faced by t he temples is the increase in the number of temples which are bui lt by individuals.

The reason why i ndividuals s t ill persist in b uilding temples , when there are mo re than enough temple s to c ater for the Hindu community , c an be attributed to their social backgrounds . Indians who mi grated Universityto Malaysia from Ind ia h aofd differen Malayat religion , l anguage , culture, custom, ethn icity and tradi t ions.

With regard to all thise differe nces , it was obvious to see ethnic g roups like the Ce ylonese and the Chettiy~rs.. building temples d edicated to Ganesha- ' and Subrahmanya respectively. This 88

waa to enable them to safeguard the interests of their own sub- g r oups . Those who a re lower in their soc ial strata, like the labourers , build small temples which are dedicated to Muneswarar and Muniandy. These people are separated from the elite clpss in the main urban areas and differs in all aspects of life from the

Ceylonese or Chettiyars . In order to feel more at home, they buil d separate temples so that members of their own sub- ethni c can intermingle among thems elves in a more famili~r s o c ial a t mosphere .

This type of incidence clearly shows the existence of caste differentiation until today. Even i f a specific person d~nie s that there exist caste influence , ~s far as temple matters a re concer ne d , but the p ersistence of this social evil can be c learly s e en by the sub- divi sion of temples a ccording to sub- ethnics .

A common occurrence that leads to individuals building t e mples on their own is t he problem that arises among the temple manage ment committee memb e r s . A e ntousiastic member who wants to impr ove the c ondition o f the templ e may earn the wrath of the other member s . Thi s leads to internal confli ct among the members who wants t o University s e ige the power of mana gingof the Malaya temple. This may be due to t he segre gati on of the committ ee members according to t heir various sub ethnics and this makes it difficult for t he m to see e ye t o e ye regar ding some import ant matters . A common 89

example is that some members do not want the temples to be comme rcia lise and want it only to conduct religious a ctivities without any yearning to make a p rof it .

Most of the temples do not ~mp ha size much on the schobl of thoughts . There seems to be no clear or definite way to outline the practise of Saivism and Vaishnavism. This bein5 the case , it is not surprising to see Vaishnavites going to Saivite temples and vice versa. There are also temples dedica t e d · to Visnu.. which a r e managed by Saivites like the Veeru Hammar · temple (Categ ory

B) in Br ickfields. Some of the templen and organisations in an at t empt to sol ve this p roblem, had, brought Saivite missionaries f r om overseas to help cla rify and teach Hi nduism. Although this move i s an applaudable one , it is should also be noted t hat the foreign missi onaries do not know the loca l people s ' backgr ound and it is difficult t o express their a ctual views in a multi r eligious society .

Youths , who form the backbone o f the future temple manage me nt committe~ s , a.re o f ten caught unaware o f the thing s happ e nin~ in the t emples . To them , Hi ndusim is a very complicated and compl ex- Universityreli gion. Therefore i f eofffort sMalaya to enlighten the m about Hindui sm clearl y is not ca rried out , we will find them drif t ing t o other religions such a s Islam and Chr istianity .

Thi s can be s e en by t he moder a te numbe r of conversion by the Hindus ev ery year . 90

There is als o a certain a moun t of politic a l exploitati o n

done b y t he M. I . C. o n the temples to assert its i n fluen ce as the

na t ional rep r esen t a tive b ody o f the Indians . A t ypica l example

was s e en during the p roces s of coll ecting funds by the ~i . I . C . to

buy tbe Vanta Ac ade my i n Peta ling Jaya . The M. I . C. in rea l j sing

t ha t the S' ri- Naha Mariamman temple have s u r pl us money which can

be ch anne lle d us e fully into the s o cia l community servi ce , appea led

to the t e mple aut hor ities t o hel p in a c quir i ng the Ac ade my .

When t he temple authoriti e s r efuse d to answer the a ppeal ,

the M. I . C. countere d ba ck by i nfo r ming the temp l e t hat the y wi~l no t

o f f i cia te i n Ba tu Caves dur i n g the Thaip usam festi v al . The t emp le ,

f i nal ly, had to donate a t o ke n s um o f money f or t he cou r s e . The

M.I.C. shoul d a lso indul g e in fig hti ng for mor e p ubl i c h ol idays dur ing Hi ndu f e s t i vals. It h as been bi dd i ng uns u c cessf ully to d e c lare Thaip usa m as a publj c holiday in the Fe d eral Ter r i tory

for mor e than ten years .

The r e is no p arty as f a r as temples a re con cerne d t o p rot e ct t he interes t o f the temples a nd the socie t y . The l o c a t i on

o f t e mp les on Gover n ment l a nd make s i t vulner a ble to d e molition if t h e l a nd iUniversitys required in t he n a me o f ofd e ve lMalayaopment . This sad f o resigh t i s what that i s being fea r ed now. Knowing that the

temples wil l be d e mol ish e d in the ne a r f u tur e , some temple

au t hor ities ~ not a ttempt to i mp rove t he conditi on of t h eir t e mples . The M. I . C. can use its p ower a s t he c omp onent party of rla r i s a n

Nasional to acquire land f rom t he Fe d e r a l or Sta t e Government 91

regarding this matter.

An important aspect t hat mo s t of t he temp les l a c k is

a steady financial position to e nable it to carry o ut its

activities. Not many temples are rich und there shoul d be an

allocation of funds to these temples by t he g overnment. The Ak ta

Perlembagaan Malaysia 1957 clea rly sta tes t hat Islam i s the major

religion in this country but it a lso mentions tha t it will not deter or stop beli ef in other r eligions. Under this phrase , t h e

Government c a n contribute by g ivinB g r a nts or financia l aid to

the temples . If one we re to look a t the temple cens us, one c a n discover that only a minimal number of temples recei ved aids

f r om the government to build temples .

There i s a lso no existence of a religious foundat ion

that also functions as the parent body for a l l the temples . No doubt the Malaysia Hindu Sangam had been the na tional repres entative

body for the Hindu community but a question which one should ponder i s whether the Hindu community or Hindu temples accept t he

Sang am &si the parent body to represent the m. ThUniversitye absence o f this par ent ofbody toMalaya coordinate temple matters is clearly reflected in the va rious disor ders in which

things a r e carried out in the t emples. There is no system of praet~~ being done . Even t hough every temple perform pujas , but the times varies according to templ es . There i s also n o fixed pr ocedure in the case of festiva ls tha t are celebr a ted i n the temples . 92

S o a situation a r ises whereby peop le d o no t know the

p rop er set of rules on certa i n t hings t ha t are -carri e d o ut by

the t emples. Pe ople who go t o the templ es d o not quite understa nd

the p roced u res that s hould be f ollowed a nd a lso i t s meanings.

Peop le only tend to go to temples more to bar ga in wi t h God for

some t hing t h ey wa nt o r for t he p u r pose o f s ocial intera cti on rather

t han d ue to reli g i o us inc lina tion . There a re certainl y a lot of

misconcep t i ons a nd misundersta nding that are c reated o u t of t h e

s t a t e o f t he t e mple s .

The a u t hor als o observed a tendenc y a mone s o me o f t he

kur uk kals t o be temp t ed mor e towa r ds ma terial ism t han t o their

rel igious dut y . On many o ccasions , these kur ukkals we r e f o und

not doing t h eir job p rope r l y . Whe n a devotee a sk t he kurukk al

to per form an arccanai on beha lf of h i m, he is usually char g ed

$1/- for a coconut a r chana i or 5 0 cents f or a fruit a rchana i .

The p roblem a rises when t he devotee~ usu a lly t he r i c h ones , pays extra for t h e kur uk kal. ' s keep s so t hat he will recite t he Sans k r i t i c ma ntr as i n a very elabo r a te a nd good wa y which mi gh t t ake quite

some time. But i f the devo t ees does not o f f e r a n yth ing extra ,

t he leng t h o fUniversity the mantr a s are cut s hort of dras Malayatica lly . I f peop l e look a t the k u r ukka l s conduct , t hen t he y will be a nnoye d and will p refer n ot to c ome t o t he t e IDpl e , t h us deprivi ng t he temp le o f public suppor t . 93

There is a lso no coo r dination between people who are

knowledg e able in religious matter , especially ~hose who have a

good command o f the Tamil l anguage with government servants

especially administra tors and a c countants in running the temple

management commi ttee . Poor management of temples are due to

indi viduals who are illiterate or do not have an English education

lack the exp ertise to administer the temple s and to keep check

on the a ccounts o f the temples . A lot o f .al practice, involving

money , t herefore is a comm on occurrence. ttt the same t ime ,

individuals wh o a re English educated run away from involving

themselves in temple manage ment because they l a ck the fundamental knowledge about religion and the Tamil l anguage . Thes e i ndividuals ,

who have the c apability to maintain the temple ' s a ccounting books ,

therefore create a vacuum that i s filled up by other individuals

with a mind to swindle some of the money for their own p ersonal

interest .

In its attempt to improve its posi t ion , most of the

temple s have inclined mo re towards the comme rci a l aspect , thus

ignoring their religious import ance . The issue of receipts for

every arcca~aiUniversity clearly shows the econ ofomic intMalaya~ r e st of the temples.

Even t hough the funds collected from ~ rcc~ai _ wedding ceremonies and public dona tions a re more t han e nough to c over the expenses , nevertheless it is felt tha t these funds a re not utilised in t he p roper way. These funds a re wasted unnecessarily in beauti fying the temples wher eas it can be benefi cial t o the s oci ety if the funds are channe l led towards t he upliftment of ~ t h e communi ty.

Some temple s are a l s o be ing r un a s " f amil y a f f air " wh ereby management or lea dership i s passed down to t heir own family members . It i s also puzzl ing to note t hat s ome temples do not let t be public to read t heir accounts s t atement s when t he publ i c a re the one who we re responsible i n donating money to t he temple .

The role of t emples as an educ ation centre for t he spiritual development of the community is quite r estricted because the man agement of t he templ e s are t oo cla ss- orientated . I t has also f a iled in some aspe cts to preserve I ndi an culture because only some templ e s organises talks or bharata nat yam after pujas.

The people t herefore a re bound t o be i gnorant and f ollow blindly wha tever tha t t akes pla ce in the templ e s .

5 . 2 Sugge s tions to overcome t he Problems

I n o rder to do away wit h all the c urrent di sorders being done in temples , what the Hindus should do is to f or m an unification of a ll the t emples . Thi s central body can only be formed if t emUniversityple manage me nt committee sof dis s olMalayave their poli t ical conflict and s et t heir tar ge t to achie ve unity among the t empl e s .

This body mus t repre sent the voices of rli ndus in all religious matters and of ut most impor t ance i s that i t shoul d be 95

accepted by Hindus themselves and by all the other communities .

It must als o get due certification from all th~ schools of thouehts like Saivism , Vaishnavism and also governing bodies of other religions .

To be more effective , this body must be registered under t he ~ational Unity Board in the ~rime Minister ' s Department .

In t h is way it c an coordinate the smooth running of all the temples but it also let temples have the freedom to manage themselves indivi dually by following a ae t of rules (regarding pujas , festiva ls and c e r emonies) that is standardized by the main governing body itself.

The body should make sure t hat temple s are functioning to provide a good religious , edu ca tional and cultural understandin ~ to the p e ople. Failure to do so by the temples c an be questioned by the c entr a l body by asking for "show caus e" letters.

There should be tota l revival of Hinduism in-this country. Hinduism should be made relevant to life and make

Hindus proud of themselves as followers of the religion. The main scr ipturesUniversity and holy texts of Hinduism of mustMalaya be translated f r om Sanskrit into the Tamil , English and the Mala y l angua ge so that the multi-racial society c an clearly understand the t e achings of Hinduism.

The gist and core of Hinduism must be taught by local missionaries who were tra ined in Malaysia itself. A view that many Hindus will agree to is tha t devotees must know what the 96

kurukkal recites in his mantrams because it is in Sanskrit. This • is because one may not necessarily know what the kurukkal is chanting ~ . during pujas and wedding ceremonies. Although mantr ams can be still recited in Sanskrit, but every verse should be translated.

There should also be an urgent need f or the revival of temples. People should know t he role of the temples . Temples should try to play their major roles as the place of worship, place of preser ving culture, educational centre and social community centre.

Under the social canmunity service, the well - established temples can answer the needs of old folks or the di sabled people. Fine arts , sculpture, traditional music and dance can be preserved by performing them whenever a festival is celebr ated .

In order to solve the problems , one should also reach into the grassroot level. Primary students who are of Indian origin can be taught Tamil or somei::hing about basi c Hinduism during their P .o. L. classes. At present, they are taught civics l essons or are just left free to themselves whereas the Mus lim students are taught somethings about Islam. The Education Ministry, can install such a move in a 1riaUniversityl basis by training teachers of in trainingMalaya colleges who must take Hinduism as a compulsory subject. The Ministry should realize the importance of encouraging other religi ons because it only unites the multi- r acial society. A verse from Rig Veda , ''only One exist, but wise men call Him in many ways", should be heeded . 97

5. 3 Conclusion

At the present , the temple ~ are not 1Yaying the centra l r ole in the soci ety. There i s an urgent neec to revive t he va rious religious organis ations and insti tution. 'l'hen only can

Hinduism as welJ as the temples flourish and be part and parcel of the Malaysian i dent i t y .

If the temples does not make any a ttempt to re ct ify the present situati on , the author fea rs that intellectual s will slowly s way from the religion and people may start questioning the e xistence of the temples itself. This will directly lead to t he slow dea th of the temples a s the major religious , cultur al , educati onal and comr.unal s ervi ce centre.

Anbe Sivamayam Sat yame Parasivam

University of Malaya 98

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 . Louis , Renou , The Nature of Hinduism, Walker & Co . , New York (1962 ) .

2. Strong , Herbert, Like a Great River: An Introduction to Hinduism , Harper & Row , ~~w York (1972) .

3. s . Arasaratnam , Indian Festivals in Malaya , Malaya Printers , Petaling Jaya (1966) .

4. R. Anto i ne , Religious Hinduism , A Presentation and Appraisal , St. Paul Publication, Bombay (1964) .

5 . Stein, Burton, The Economic Function of a Medieval South Indian ·rernple , Journal of Asian Studies , Vol. 19 (1959/60).

6 . Beteille, A., Caste , Class and Power: Changing Patterns of Str atification in a Tanjore Village , University of California Pres s (1965) .

7. Lawrence A. Babb , Hindu Mediunship in Singapore, Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science Vol. 2.

8 . Arasaratnam , s., Indians in Malaysia and Singapore, Oxf ord University Press, London (1970) .

9 . M. Arunachalam , Festi vals of Tamil Nadu , Novel Art Printers, Madras (1980) .

1 0 . The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol . 8 .

University of Malaya